EcoJarz: Turn Your Old Jars Into Travel Mugs

If you're like me, and most people that call themselves treehuggers eco-friendly, you probably try to reuse a lot of household items. A favorite, is using glass jars as drinking glasses.

Now, what if you could use those glasses outside the home? Take them to work with your morning smoothie? Use them outdoors at a picnic?

"But what if it spills in my car?" and "What about all the bugs outside?"

In comes, EcoJarz.

This lid and straw system, turns many common jars into to-go cups.

I thought this was brilliant! I take a smoothie to work every morning, so I knew I'd get use out of it. So, I recently ordered myself a set of 3 stainless steel Eco Jarz lids, rings, and metal straws.

How it works? Pretty simple. You clean out a glass jar; whether it's from peanut butter or mayonnaise (Vegenaise in my case). Then you put on the Eco Jarz lid (it has a silicone ring on the bottom, to create a nice seal), put on outer ring and tighten. Put in the straw. Ta-dah!

Note: If you are using old canning jars, and still have the metal rings, you do not need to purchase more.

Now that I've been using mine for a month or so, here are the cons, followed by the pros.

Cons:

1. They didn't fit most of the jars I had. What I've found is that most of my food jars, aren't considered 'standard' size. Some are too small, others are far too big. (However, EcoJarz DOES now sell a "wide mouth" lid, if you know you want to use them on larger jars.)
2. The downside of metal straws, is that you can't see when they're truly clean inside. It's a best guess scenario.
3. The cleaner/brush that comes with the straws is very hard to use. I mean, not conceptually. It's basically a pipe-cleaner with hard bristles. But it's a veeeery snug fit, and you could easily rip up your hands trying to move the brush in and out of the straw. I found the easiest thing was to grab the end of the brush with a towel; to give myself better grip.

My morning vegan PB&J smoothie.

Pros:

1. It's so easy! I mean, once you have a couple jars that fit with the lid, it's not exactly complicated to use. The lids themselves are also super easy to clean. Usually a good rinse with hot water is all you'll need.
2. You get to be eco-cool just by using it. That's right. People will ask you, "What is THAT?" "Where did you get it?" "That's so neat!" Believe it or not, jars are "in" right now.
3. You don't care if it's "in" .. It's eco-friendly! Because, let's face it, we run out of uses for all these jars. You can only use so many to store buttons and cotton balls. Giving them a second or third life, is always great. And you don't have to panic if they break. Just move the lid to another one. Lastly, it comes in eco-packaging, or better yet, you can request it be sent to you with no retail packaging.
4. Affordable. Right now, each lid runs around $8. Pretty reasonable when compared to other travel mugs/tumblers. And since you can move the same one from jar to jar, you're likely to get more use out of it.

All in all, definitely glad I purchased it. The lid is much easier to clean that my other plastic tumblers, it looks rather 'mod' sitting on my desk every morning, and it's a conversation starter about being eco-conscious.

Get yours at EcoJarz.com 

Humanizing

In recent days, I've had a few discussions (both online and off), about the comparison between human life and all other living beings.

Basically, I get a lot of flack for 'humanizing' animals.

Yes, I mourn for them. I physically feel pains of empathy for them. I think it is just as heartbreaking when they die, when they're abused, when they're separated from their young. I can't rationalize their existence in any other way.

But I'm not humanizing them.

I'm equalizing all.

I realize that my view isn't necessarily the most popular one.. But I'm hoping that if I lay it all out in one post, it will be easier to understand where I'm coming from, even if one chooses to still not agree.

At any rate, the discussions that came up in the last couple weeks were in relation to animal testing, the school shooting in Newtown, and then the President eating meat while stating how we need to address and reduce violence in our country.

I know these seem like varied topics, but it all comes down to one issue that I'd like to address here:

Are human lives more important than the lives of any other living being?

My answer is a resounding.. no.

When I say this, the first counter-argument is, "So you're saying you'd be equally upset about a cow dying, as about your husband dying?"

Answer? No, of course not.

It is normal for us to feel closer and more attached to members of the same species; as we can relate to them, communicate with them, and more easily bond with them. But those are emotional attachments, especially when talking about close relationships within our families and friendships.

Emotional attachments are not intrinsic value.

That is the same reason we can separate ourselves, even from other humans, in times of conflict. We tell ourselves, "They look different." "They act different." or "They speak a different language." Therefore, we conclude that they are 'less than.'

It's the basis of racism, of people who think we should bomb an entire section of world, and so on. We take away their 'value' .. But did it really change? Or did we just perceive it that way?

And if we can so easily do that to other humans, imagine how quickly our egos allow us to do it to animals...

The second counter-argument is usually reserved for the religious. They state that humans have souls, while no other animals do. Therefore, humans are clearly more important.

If you've read my blog for awhile, you know I'm an atheist. But let's presume for a moment that humans do have souls. I won't even attempt to refute that. But I have to assume that even most 'believers' understand fossil record, and that they understand there were neanderthals before us.

Note: If you are someone who thinks the fossil record is made up, that dinosaurs never existed, and so on.. you might as well skip this entirely, because I find it impossible to have a rational conversation on this topic with anyone who cannot accept these things as truth.

So, if current humans have souls, wouldn't our immediate ancestors? I would have to assume so. But then, if we take it back one more step, then we would also assume that all homosapiens had/have souls. In which case, they all descend from primates. So, do all primates have souls? Because that then leads directly into the animal kingdom.

See where I'm going with this?

If you believe at all in evolution (and many religious people do), or if you just believe in the most recent of fossil record, it's impossible to define a moment when the soul appeared. Where one generation of primates didn't have any, but their offspring did. Or when neanderthals didn't, but humans suddenly did. So logically speaking, if humans have souls.. so do every other living creature on Earth.

Now, I'm not entirely convinced that humans have a soul; but I am completely convinced that if I do.. so does every other sentient being on the planet.

The final counter-argument is pretty simple in nature. It's usually, "But we're smarter." or "We've clearly accomplished the most."

Define "smarter" and "accomplishment."

Sure, we can solve more complex puzzles. We can build great wonders. Explore space. We have accomplished great things.

But we're also the only species that goes to war. That pollutes the very things we need to sustain life. That 'creates' food that actually is killing us. That cages, confines, and kills other species for enjoyment. That over-populates, then longs for immortality at all costs.

We are the sole owners of nuclear weapons, mass-murders, genocide, and torture.

So, how smart are we, really?

It says something profound about humankind, when you realize that we're the only species.. that if we all died off tomorrow, the world would not only survive.. it would THRIVE.

And yet, we convince ourselves that we're of primary importance. All other things are here to merely serve us.

But the truth is, at the end of it all.. when the sun engulfs the Earth, or a black hole moves just a little too close, or another catastrophic impact occurs... we humans aren't going to matter at all. Everything 'out there' is the great equalizer. We will die all the same. Nobody will be left to marvel at our wonders, or read our great stories. Nobody will have an emotional kinship with us, and therefore, place false value upon us. As far as the great vastness of space is concerned (which will eventually be all there is), a human death is no more important than a cow's, a dolphin's, or a snake's.

We are equal. We ARE animals. We have parents and offspring.. just like them. We feel pain (the other great equalizer), anxiety, and loss.. just like them.

Any belief to the contrary, is one created solely by convenience and ego.

Which, of course, are the two greatest and constant downfalls of mankind.

So remember this...

It's not about humanizing them.. It's about recognizing them.

(If you recognize the value of all living creatures, please find 'the Hopeful Herbivore' on Facebook, and join the discussion.)

Keurig - Revisted

Over a year ago, I wrote a blog post: Keurig - Convenient Coffee or Landfill Disaster?

I wrote about how all those little cups that people were going through at such a fast pace, were not even recycleable, and how that clearly was bad for the environment. The only positives I noted about Keurig were that the company stated it was 'looking for a solution to this problem,' and they did make a "My K-Cup" that was reuseable (eco-friendly).

Now, a year later... my husband bought one.

Yep, that's right. He had a $200 gift card burning a hole in his pocket, and went for the Keurig. Now, he knew I was concerned about environmental impact.. so we hashed it out.

For me, a person who hates coffee with a passion, it would likely worsen my impact; as I'd use it for hot or iced tea.. something I normally make the old fashioned way.

However, my husband is an avid coffee drinker. And he's gotten into the bad habit, as so many people have, of getting his at a local gas station on his way to work. I don't have to tell you how those are packaged.

Big styrofoam cups!

So, he swore he'd ditch the styrofoam cups of gas stations and fast food, and only make his coffee at home.

But has anything about the company changed?

Well.. sort of.

They kind of found a solution. Problem is, they only make it available for one of their coffee makers. Their Vue brewer cups, do have recycleable components. But they haven't been able to adapt it back to the K-cup (standard and most popular Keurig brewer).

And while they still have the "My K-cup," other companies are seeking to improve upon it. They've managed to make them easier to use and clean. One example is the Ekobrew Cup.

 

So, in light of all of that, it made sense for us. My husband, at worst, will be disposing of tiny plastic cups; instead of huge styrofoam ones. And at best, he'll be using the My K-Cup or the Ekobrew, and creating no waste.

Now, I can only hope the Keurig keeps moving towards a more eco-friendly future. Where all the cups are made of recycleable or biodegradeable parts.

What about you? Do you own a Keurig (or similar brewer)? Do you think it has improved or hindered your environmental impact?

Vegucated: The Screening

So, we did it.

The Vegucated screening this morning was an absolute success. Just shy of 50 people attended, enjoyed some vegan food, and gave lots of positive feedback.

I, originally, was going to man the table during the show.. but decided to sneak into the theater, to sit in the back, instead. I just really wanted to hear and see the crowd's reactions. Would they laugh when I expected them to? Would anyone cry during some of the 'rough' scenes? (Yeah, I know.. you'd think I was the one who made the film.) For the most part, it went exactly as I anticipated.

 

And on the upside.. since I was paying so much attention to the audience, I made it through without crying. ;)

So, I'd like to the thank my co-sponsor, Sunspot Natural Market. If you live near Kokomo or Lafayette, Indiana.. it's the best store around. Great group of people.

Guests also got to see designs from Christy Robinson; who makes beautiful (veg and eco themed) jewelry from recycled metals.

  

As an aside, if you're looking for the malas that were displayed at the event, that's actually my business; that you can visit here: Delicate Devotions.

And also, to my many sponsors that donated food for the event: Beanitos, Cruncha-ma-me, Endangered Species Chocolates, Sjaaks Organic Chocolates, Uncle Eddie's Vegan Cookies, and Snackettes.

 

So please, when you're in the market for jewelry, snacks, or health food.. please try these companies first. They're the ones eager to get involved and help out the 'little guy.'

Also, thank you to Farm Sanctuary, Mercy For Animals, and PCRM (Physician's Committee for Responsible Medicine) for their guides and vegetarian starter kits.

They were all a huge hit!

As for the reaction to the film.. everything I heard was positive.

One woman asked about how she could go about showing it in her classroom to her students.

One man, an avid meat-eater, immediately said, "I didn't know it was that bad.. Some of the things they do. I'm not sure I can cut it all out.. but I'm definitely cutting back."

Another woman stopped to say that she really enjoyed how the film wasn't pushy, but still very informative.

And countless people thanked me for hosting the screening, shook my hand, and said it was a wonderful film.

So, if you haven't seen it.. find a screening at GetVegucated.com, rent/stream or buy it online, or look for it on Netflix.

But whatever you do... make sure you get Vegucated.

Farm Sanctuary; My Visit

It's been awhile since my last post. Partly because I've been pretty busy trying to organize a Vegucated screening. And partly because I was on vacation :)

For one week, my husband and I went off to New York, to the Farm Sanctuary. And let me tell you...

I am in love.

Seriously. I'm not even remotely a 'roughing it' or camping kind of girl. And while I wouldn't consider the cabins we stayed in 'roughing it,' I did have to walk to the showers and toilets in the middle of the night. There is no air conditioning (partly why I waited til October to go). But with all sincerity, barely even noticed.

I was just too content and at peace.

Every day had a different adventure. My personal favorite were the tours of the farm that we could go on each morning after breakfast. We went a few times, walking around with a staff member to meet all the wonderful beings that reside there.

It was heartwarming, to say the least, to be standing next to or feeding an animal that had once suffered terrible abuse, but was now willing and excited to have human contact. Sure, there were some that were still skiddish, and all you could do was to respect that they'd been through a lot, and progress has to be on their terms.

So, every chance I could, I was petting some cows and goats, feeding some turkeys, and walking around while piglets were nipping at the ends of my pants.

Of course, Watkins Glen had other stuff to do.. so we went on some hiking trails, found some restaurants with great vegan options (something that was accepted and understood.. in a way that's hard to find in Indiana), and sat down by the lake to eat our lunch on one afternoon.

But, each time we ventured off, I just wanted to get back to the farm. I'd browse the gift shop. Or sit on our cabin porch and watch the sunset.. the pink glow bouncing off the pigs' white backs. And after dark, every single night, we'd open the front door to see at least six deer grazing the lawn right in front of our cabin.

This felt like sacred ground. As I posted on Facebook while I was there: "Forget Disneyland. THIS is the most magical place on Earth."

So, if you've ever thought about going.. or you're looking for a vegan-friendly getaway, I highly recommend it.

Fresh: The Movie

Last night, I fell asleep far too early.. So I woke up in the middle of the night with nothing to do.

Solution: Netflix

I went browsing through the documentaries, and found Fresh in my recommended line-up.

It said it was a documentary about the local, organic, and sustainable food movement.

Sounds good. Play.

Now, what I noticed first, was that this was the first documentary of the sort that didn't focus entirely on the problem.. but actually lended ideas to the solution.

There are dozens of films on why industrial farming is bad, why GMO crops are bad, why feed lots are bad.. but most conclude with, "So, we need to stop doing that."

Which leaves the question, "Then, how do we feed everybody?"

Fresh actually looks into the answer, by interviewing and following farmers that are doing it the right way. They explain how beneficial it is to have animals and crops on the same land, and rotating crops to create biodiversity actually makes many of the pesticides and chemicals unnecessary. But instead of following nature's rules, man has attempted to override it.. by separating farming into sub-groups.. so that neither benefits the other. And so everything that you would get naturally, we now have to synthesize or mechanize.

I also want to point out that this isn't a "Go Vegan" film. In fact, two of the farmers they point to as the "correct way" of doing things, raise livestock. But they don't do it in tiny crates, or cages.. and they don't feed them dead animals or corn.

Now, I get it. People always say, "That's great. But you can't feed the world that way."

But, why?

First, corn is only so plentiful because our government subsidizes it. That's why it's the go-to sweetener in everything on the grocery store shelf. It's cheap. Very little of the corn grown, is actually used as human food.. or even left as corn.

Most of it is used for animal feed (unnatural feed), or in highly processed and cheap food for humans.

Neither of those sound like good uses to me. Aside from the occasional tortilla chip, you know what I eat that has corn in it? Corn.

And that's how it should be.

We currently feed around 60% of our corn and soybeans to animals. So, if we simply reduced the number of animals we raised (aka: reduced the demand for meat), that would leave a LOT of farmland for growing fruits, vegetables, and grains directly for human consumption.

I don't see the downside here. As a vegan, I don't want to eat an animal that had to be killed.. but I completely get that others aren't willing to take that step. So, if you want meat, don't you want it from a place like Polyface, Inc Farms? Where the animals are respected, beloved, and live a 'natural' life?

Yes, it may mean that you only have two or three meals a week that have a chunk of meat in them. But isn't a few, high quality, properly raised cuts of meat better than a mash of  low quality, gray or pink slime, sprayed with chemicals to kill bacteria.. even if you can have it at every meal?

Eventually, quality and safety have to override "cheap." We'll pay hundreds of dollars for a brand name watch, or the latest iPhone. Or $5 a cup for swanky coffee. But if we have to pay more than a dollar for a hamburger, it's just not worth it? Really? Where are our priorities, if not in the food that sustains us?

Joel Salatin, the owner of Polyface Farms, truly "gets" food. What it is, and what it isn't. And he's also learned to work with mother nature, instead of against her. In fact, he doesn't even say he's in the farming business. He claims, "We are in the redemption business: healing the land, healing the food, healing the economy, and healing the culture."

That's a place I want my food to come from.

Fresh clearly points out how humans, in a quest for 'bigger' and 'faster,' never pause and say, "Maybe we should take a step back." We just forge ahead with "new solutions" that only create more problems.

When we start jamming hundreds of one kind of animal into a small space, and they start getting aggressive, we don't say, "Hmm. Maybe they shouldn't be farmed this way." Instead, we cut off their tails, grind down their beaks, or put them in tiny individual crates.

When diseases and infections become rampant, we still don't pause and think we need to go backwards.. giving them more space and natural feed. Instead, we pump in loads of antibiotics.

Basically, common sense goes out the window.. when a profit margin is on the line.

But Fresh doesn't try to villify those that are doing it the 'industrial' way. They acknowledge that many farmers have felt they had no choice. Big companies now run agribusiness, so you play by their rules, or struggle to stay in business.

I think everyone, on some level, understands that every farmer is trying their best. Fresh is just acknowledging that our current system is in no way sustainable. It has to change. It will either be by necessity, when livestock diseases are rampant, or the crop fertilizers aren't strong enough anymore.. or it will be by a movement of people who saw what was coming, and demanded a change.

So, if you're interested in our food system, where it's going, and how sustainable is really the only choice we have for long term survival.. I highly recommend you give this film a gander.

Sleep Apnea and/or Severe Snoring?

Okay, what do sleep apnea and snoring have to do with an environmental/eco/vegan blog? Well.. I'll tell you.

A couple weeks ago, my husband went in for a sleep study. He only did so at my urging.

For as long as I've known him, he's been a very loud snorer. So bad, that for the last year (since our sleep schedules have been the same), one of us has to sleep on the couch.. just so we both can get some decent rest.

What worried me, though, was that he'd often wake up randomly.. coughing, or sounding like he was choking on his own tongue.

So, after much nagging from me, he made an appointment for a sleep study.

The thing is....

in the meantime, we did the vegan challenge, and decided to stay vegan. I couldn't help but notice that I could no longer hear him snoring in the living room during the night. Sure enough, his snoring has practically disappeared.

And we just got the results from his sleep study. No apnea!

I have to assume, that something that had been happening for years.. then went away after going vegan.. has to be related. Many folks throughout the years have suggested that dairy increases mucous production, or thickens the mucous present. If that's true, it definitely could affect snoring.

And as for the apnea, that I truly feel he was suffering from.. my best guess is that because he dropped 10 pounds in a month, with minimal effort (and no, he's not obese) that it opened his airways a bit.

Either way.. whether it's due to the dairy, the weight loss, or both. It might be worth a try if you're a snorer (or if the person laying next to you is). From other anecdotes I've read online, if you try cutting out all dairy for at least three weeks, you should notice a difference.