I recently read a very good article on water conservation called “This is a turn off“. The article focuses on the fact that the average American uses about 151 gallons of water per day and gives suggestions on how to cut that consumption in half to 75. Some of the ideas are pretty farfetched, some are obvious, and others are uniquely interesting and make good sense.

Where you live may determine which new ideas you might be inspired to try out. For example in Denver I could hang up my pants or a second layer shirt like a long sleeve on a clothes rack and wear them a second time. It was so dry there that you barely sweat so your clothes wouldn’t get that stuffy or smell like mildew as they do in humid climates. That doesn’t work so well in Oregon, but here we don’t have to worry about running sprinklers; in fact we just disabled our preinstalled sprinkler system. There is hardly anything more annoying than seeing a sprinkler system running while it is raining. Instead we just water our lawn by hand when needed in the summer, and the rest of the time the rain covers our needs.

Plants need more water than grass but you can’t beat the travel distance of a tomato from your garden to the table vs one from the supermarket, so in my opinion a home garden is worth its weight in water. To conserve water with our gardening projects we water plants in the evening or early morning. This allows the water to soak in when the soil is cooled down; otherwise most of the water will just be burn off. Our hose also has an attachment with different settings like mist, shower, jet, soaker etc so that we can water according to the needs of the plants, and that enables us to turn the hose off from the attachment so it is only running when we are actually watering the plants or yard.

We do plan to implement a few new ideas we haven’t thought of before from the web article “This is a turn off“, such as using cooking water for gardening. I think I’ll skip using the bathwater option though since I probably wouldn’t be able to eat a tomato without wondering if there was a hint of safeguard in it. The clean toilet hack sounds reasonably easy, but I’ll leave the dirty toilet hack to the hippie communes. I’ve seen more than my share of composting toilets at hiking trailheads-YUK!

There are a few other things we already do around the house to conserve water. We’ve installed a low pressure shower head in our bathroom, and I turned down the water pressure on all of the facets to about 1/3 the normal amount, which is fine for our purposes. We have energy compliant appliances which use less energy and water, costing less in the long run. Whatever you decide to do everyone should at least think about how much water they personally use. At a bare minimum avoid doing wasteful things like leaving the water running while you are brushing your teeth or shaving, or running the dishwasher half empty; that’s just plain wasteful.

A photo from India courtesy of Lukasz Maciejczyk

One last water conservation trick I do that some people may find extreme, but I think is perfectly sensible, is follow the old rule of “if it’s yellow let it mellow, if it’s brown flush it down”. I first heard this from my college astronomy teacher who was the old hippie type. We all laughed when she said that, but it makes sense so I started practicing it. Of course I don’t always let it mellow otherwise the toilet would need to be cleaned constantly. Think about it though, if two people are going #1 in succession do you really need to flush two times and waste the extra 5-6 gallons of water? Millions of people in third world countries don’t even have running tap water, much less a flush toilet. I wonder what they think of our 150 gallon per person per day usage in the U.S.A.

As kids most of us were taught to flush the toilet after every use as a courtesy to the next person, but maybe we need to change our perception of what courteous is. “Honey don’t flush the toilet” may not sound very romantic but next time you think you might use the bathroom right after your significant other those six words could save six gallons of water. That much water may only be a nickel off your water bill, but over time it will add up. Over your lifetime and millions of others that little change in habit could mean the difference between our great-great grandkids in the 22^nd century having running tap water.

In some parts of the world people are lucky to have any clean drinking water at all, much less water to bathe or cook with. Here in the good old USA water flows freely, which means many people use and unfortunately waste it without an afterthought. This easy access to the world’s most important resource has led Americans and residents of other first world countries to take water for granted. It was only recently that those same people began to question the purity of water that comes out of their tap. That is when the bottled water craze began.

Some of you might think drinking bottled water is a good solution, but I’d argue against that notion. Plastic bottles are clogging up our landfills, and it has been exposed that most bottled water is merely tap water or filtered water given a fancy name with a high price. If you do drink bottled water you should use your own reusable bottle that is BPA-free (you can get these at REI), and fill it with filtered water from home or work. Using your own water bottle or mug can save several paper or styrofoam cups every day.

So if bottled water isn’t the answer then what is? Let me tell you a little story that led to my path of clean water enlightenment. Many years ago, in a previous life I lived in Dallas, Texas. During these years I was more worried about what was in my beer than in my water, but one day I had a water revelation. I was playing tennis on a hot summer day and couldn’t help but notice that I wreaked of chlorine smell. I began to notice this after any activity where I sweat profusely, which in Texas can be something as simple as walking out to your car since temperatures often get into triple digits during the summer. All of this sweating of course means you have to drink a lot of water to rehydrate. The tap water where I lived in Texas was really poor quality, so bad that you could smell the chlorine in it when turning on the faucet. It only makes sense that if you drink this chlorinated water your body has to work overtime to purge your system of the chlorine.

Chlorine is a poisonous gas/liquid that is sometimes used to kill bacteria in water. You can read more about Chlorine at this web page from the CDC Chlorine Facts Page. My question is “if it is poisonous enough to kill you then why would you even want to intake it in small quantities, and wouldn’t that cause your body a lot of damage over years of exposure?” I took the first step to solving this problem by buying a cheap Brita filter from Wal-mart which did help a lot, but it still wasn’t quite enough.

When I moved to Colorado I found a local filtered water place called Water To Go  (also in Oregon) where you can bring in your 5 gallon (or whatever sized) jugs and fill them up for about 40 cents per gallon. They run their water through a 12 stage filtration system so it basically comes out completely purified. You can really taste the difference, or should I say not taste all the things that shouldn’t be there.

I know there are over the counter water filters that you can install in your sink and I think those are an excellent choice too, but usually pricey for the good ones. Currently we still fill our bottles at Water To Go, or Whole Foods Market. In the future we might get a home filter installed so we can have filtered water for all of our cooking and other needs.

Additionally we put a filter on our shower head from a company called Rainshow’r that filters out chlorine in the shower so it doesn’t dry out your skin. I immediately noticed a difference from this too. Previously my skin was always dry and sometimes itchy. When you take a hot shower your pores open up allowing your skin to become more vulnerable to absorbing harmful chlorine and other contaminants.

Whether or not you think using a filter on your shower head is a worthwhile practice is up to you, but drinking filtered water is a clear choice that everyone should consider. Everything you put in your body must be purged at some point; if it isn’t then it is unnaturally building up in your body which is likely to lead to bad news down the road. As with anything there are plenty of arguments on both sides of this issue. I’d recommend that you do your own research and decide for yourself if you think your water source is clean and safe, or if there is something funny in the water.

Bathrooms: I threw out the COMET which is toxic anyway and now use baking soda for the whole bathroom. Sink, shower, toilet, floor, everything can be cleaned safely with baking soda.

Kitchen: Food stuck in pans? Baking soda paste is the answer. It makes our sink shine and stays cleaner longer.

Deodorizer: I keep a small partially open box in the refrigerator to keep it smelling fresh.

Shampoo Additive: About once a month, I mix a little bit of baking soda on a teaspoon of shampoo (sulfate-free) on my palm to remove product residues on my hair.

Laundry: Add ½ cup to a load for brighter whites and stain removal.

According to Wikipedia:

“Sodium bicarbonate or sodium hydrogen carbonate is the chemical compound with the formula NaHCO3. Sodium bicarbonate is a white solid that is crystalline but often appears as a fine powder. It has a slight alkaline taste resembling that of washing soda (sodium carbonate). It is a component of the mineral natron and is found dissolved in many mineral springs. The natural mineral form is known as nahcolite. It is also produced artificially.
Since it has long been known and is widely used, the salt has many related names such as baking soda, bread soda, cooking soda, bicarbonate of soda. Colloquially, its name is shortened to sodium bicarb, bicarb soda, or simply bicarb. The word saleratus, from Latin sal æratus meaning “aerated salt”, was widely used in the 19th century for both sodium bicarbonate and potassium bicarbonate. The term has now fallen out of common usage.”

It also cites many other uses:

Vegetables: Used to remove pesticides. Not that I want to eat food with pesticides but it is not easy to be 100% all-natural so this is a good way to clean vegetables.

Insect Bites: Apply paste to remove sting. The poison is absorbed and therefore lessens the sting.

Medical: Used as an antacid.

As with anything, you have to do your own research and proceed with caution. Baking soda can strip a layer of material such as when it reacts with aluminum and could be very abrasive when used as toothpaste.

Forget Comet, Windex, and Bleach. I ♥ baking soda.

For further reading, check out:

About.com lists more uses for baking soda.
Care2 has several articles about non-toxic cleaning.
Arm & Hammer, the most common brand has a good website with tips and FAQs.

How about you? What do you use baking soda for?

Many of the questions I had about food and GMO’s were answered in this film. Other topics such as growing your own food, buying organics, joining CSA’s were discussed and justified as part of the solution. My only complaint about the documentary is that I wish they had spent more time talking about solutions and less time making me mad about the details concerning the problem. I guess the point is that if people don’t fully understand the problem enough to get mad about it they won’t be motivated to change. Point taken! If you want to get mad about your food and government too then just watch the intro to this documentary from the link below, or better yet just watch the whole documentary and get really mad!

The current situation with agriculture reminds me of when oil prices doubled last year driving up inflation and helping to fuel the fire of the bad economic state we are in now. The reality of just how dependant we are on oil and the foreign countries that produce it became glaringly apparent. People became more conscious of the record profiting oil companies and lobbyist that have their hands in the pockets of government officials, auto industries, and just about everything else.

Now just imagine instead of an oil crisis there is a worldwide food shortage. Drought and overpopulation cause people even in this country to scramble for food and stockpile items like rice and beans just so they can be assured of their own future of food. In reality this is already happening in many parts of the world, but if another factor was added to that list you would have the perfect storm that could starve the world. Do you think when a loaf of bread suddenly costs 10 dollars people would wake up in a hurry and get educated about what we are eating, where it is coming from, and who are the corporations pulling all the strings? You bet!

“The Future of Food” talks at length about a handful of corporations that have been making and patenting genetically modified seeds since the 70’s. These modified seeds are designed to grow crops that withstand pesticides which are specially formulated to kill everything else except those crops. How convenient! If this all sounds like a racket, well it is. These corporations are all in bed with each other along with the FDA and lobbyists. The scary thing is that these seed and insecticide corporations are so greedy they continue to modify and patent new GMO’s such as suicide seeds that will sprout crops that produce sterile seeds that won’t sprout when replanted. This is all to make big money. Farmers will have to buy seeds every year from these corporations instead of saving their own seeds like they have done since the dawn of agriculture. These seed corporations have already put many small farmers out of business by suing them for having the GMO pesticide resistant seeds/crops mixed in with their own crops, which happens naturally from birds/bees/wind/etc. Here’s the real kicker- imagine what happens when these new GMO suicide seeds get mixed in with natural crops! The seed companies will rule the world, or what’s left of it.

The best thing we as consumers can do before it gets to this inevitable point is to get smart about food, and use the one influential power we have (besides our voice and vote) which is our buying power. What we buy dictates what is sold. It’s simple economics- supply and demand. So when you read food labels, buy organic foods, shop at farmers markets, join CSA’s, and grow your own food you are not only becoming what we call in Portland a “foodie”, but you are fighting corporate control. You can grow your own food, plant organic veggies, and use organic seeds instead of genetically modified ones. Local nurseries are better bets to find natural and organic plants than big corporate chain stores. For our own garden we have used mostly organic seeds and plants with no pesticides or unnatural fertilizers. We have found a really good seed company locally  in Oregon called Territorial Seed that uses only natural organic seeds. Next year we plan to buy all of our seeds from them and make sure everything in our garden is completely organic.

One additional thing we can do is demand that products containing GMO’s are labeled like they are in Europe. If you go into your local organic grocery store you will see many products that say “no GMO’s”, but you will be hard pressed to find a product in the U.S. that says “contains GMO’s”. Americans lead the way on many different fronts, but when it comes to food we could learn a thing or two from our neighbors across the pond.

Europeans are years behind America in food technology, and that’s a good thing. Instead of fast food restaurants and chain grocery stores on every corner you have local bakeries and farmers markets. That is the way it has been done for ages, and it’s how the people in Europe like it. Having firsthand experience with food in Europe and America I can tell you- there is no comparison. Americans want easy, fast, and cheap food; basically anything that comes in a box, bag, or can. Even most American restaurants shamefully serve what amounts to upgraded tv dinners at a premium price. When you go to a conventional grocery store the only natural looking food is in the produce and meat department, but alas even that is bioengineered in this country. Imagine if Americans decided to get smart about their food and used thier loud voices to demand change. It would change the Future of Food in this country, and maybe the world. Personally I’m all for new technology and lifestyle improvements, but when it comes to food I’ll take it the way nature intended it to be, not the way man has made it to be.

EPA CFL recylcing page
EnergyStar FAQ about CFLs

According to this Energystar Webpage a CFL light bulb uses approximately 75% less energy than an incandescent bulb, and produces 75% less heat which makes them safer. Additionally the CFLs can last up to 10 times longer than incandescents. Overall it is estimated that you will save at least 30 dollars in electricity costs per bulb. The CFLs do cost a little more initially but if you shop places like Costco you’ll find them very cheap compared to your typical hardware or superstores.

Something to be aware of before you outfit your entire house with CFLs is the different color variations. Some CFLs appear to be yellowish in color while others emit a whiter brighter and more natural color, which I personally prefer. This webpage gives more detail about that and which specs to look for according to your needs.

I encountered another quirk when I bought some CFLs for recessed lighting in our kitchen, which was basically a small CFL bulb inside a larger dome bulb to fit the recessed light area. I thought this was a genius idea when I bought them until they all burned out a few months later. These lights normally last for years so I figured it had to be because of the bulb inside a bulb inside of a recessed area built up too much heat and caused the burnout. Recently I’ve found out that you need specific types of CFLs to handle dimmer switches which our kitchen lights are on, so this could’ve been a problem. Since then I’ve replaced them with regular CFL bulbs and haven’t had any problems. Most people don’t look up at the ceiling to see what a bright glowing light bulb looks like so the cosmetic difference is really nil.

Just one other thing I wanted to mention about lights is how awesome outdoor solar lights are. We bought some to put around our front yard to light up the area and deter break-ins. Even in Oregon we get enough light to charge them up every day. They turn on automatically at night and really do an outstanding job of lighting up the yard at no additional energy cost. If you haven’t switched over CFLs and solar yet it’s time to wake up and smell the pollution!

The "Small" Bin

Recently we attended the Everything Green Oregon event at the Oregon Convention Center. There were a wide variety of businesses and organizations there promoting their business or cause. Some of the more interesting booths included water filtration products, electric car exhibit, and solar energy companies.

Being foodies we were most interested in the CSAs (community supported agriculture) and organic food. As Marcel talked about in the last post, we’ve already signed up for one local CSA that will last us throughout the summer. At the convention we found another option that compliments that seasonal CSA.  Organics To You was offering a 50% discount to try their service of a home delivered box of fruits and veggies. The delivery is free and the box is normally $33, but at the show we signed up for the first time special for $16.50. What a bargain! We did pay full price ($4.25) for the eggs (farm fresh from Banks, OR) which were not included.

The best thing about this service is that it is year round and you can sign up for a delivery whenever you want, rather than paying for a whole season up front and getting it every week. During the winter months there isn’t as much available locally so only about half of the items are local but it’s still all organic. We thought we would try it for a one-time delivery, and then if we like it maybe get this box once a month or so in the winter when the regular CSA’s are not available.

Wednesday night a typical crazy Portlander who looked like Hyde from That 70’s Show (but with even bigger hair) showed up on our doorstep with the box of goodies. As you can see from the picture above, it is a very good variety of fruits and veggies along with our farm fresh eggs. Last night I made some potato leek soup. Yummy…this has motivated us to eat more fruits and vegetables. Between the CSA, Organics To You, and our own garden goodies, I’m looking forward to good wholesome eating all year long :-) 

Since moving to the Pacific Northwest region in 2006, we have significantly changed the way we eat and buy food. With an abundance of farmers markets, produce stands, and great weather, we are eating more and more fresh fruit and vegetables. Additional local items like honey, breads, pickles, seafood, wine, beer, and many others are readily available as well. What’s even better than buying locally is growing locally, in your own yard! Consider that commercial produce and other products are full of pesticides, preservatives, artificial flavorings, among other mystery ingredients. The choice is clear, for healthy food and peace of mind- grow your own.

Having your own garden can be rewarding in many other ways than just having super fresh food on the table. It brings out your nurturing abilities, much like taking care of a pet or child. In return you are rewarded with delectable gifts that taste oh so much better than anything bought at the store. Speaking of that, most store-bought produce is picked early so they ripen on the way to the store, and then sit on the shelf for a while before going rotten. In your own garden you can pick your food ripe on the vine so it is fully developed and ready for consumption on the spot. There is a rewarding sense of accomplishment that comes with gardening. It is a natural way of getting back to basics and tuning into the way things used to be, instead of being like so many people today who just tune into the TV while eating a TV dinner.

Another green benefit to having a green thumb is there is practically zero emissions associated with the food you grow, and very little with locally bought produce or CSA’s. Think of all the transportation that is involved with commercial bought produce that travels an average of 1500 miles to your table. Last summer I almost bought a bag of oranges. They looked so good and I was really craving some citrus, but being from South Florida I knew something just wasn’t right with fresh oranges in July. I checked the label and sure enough they were from South Africa, which explains the high price and why they were ripe in the summer instead of the usual winter season. Nothing against South Africa, but I thought to myself do I really want to support buying produce that is shipped half way around the world when I can just buy something else that is local and in season for much cheaper? I put the oranges back and decided that I would buy locally grown or at least domestically grown whenever possible.

In addition to gardening and buying at farmers markets we are subscribing to a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture). The CSA share is a big movement in Oregon that we just learned about last year. This season we have paid upfront for a summer full of fresh CSA fruits and veggies from SunGoldFarm. Starting in June we will pick up a basket of fresh fruit and veggies every week. The baskets are surprisingly cheap for the large quantities you get. Each week the basket contents will be a little different since various fruits and veggies ripen at different times. With the CSA it’s up to us to be creative and find a way to use the items we get, or give away the ones we don’t use. I’m looking forward to some culinary creativity in the kitchen. Who knows we may just go vegan for the summer!

A small harvest from our garden.

Unfortunately this same enlightenment about soda hasn’t dawned on most folks yet, and nobody seems to be lining up to protest the ill effects of soda. Sure there is no one real culprit to link to soda like there was when people figured out lung cancer was a direct result of smoking. Instead drinking soda is just bad for your health all the way around. In health terms soda is usually referred to as empty calories. It’s even worse now that High Fructose Corn Syrup (HFCS) has been added to replace sugar, and act as a preservative. I guess you can now say that soda is genetically modified empty calories!

I could be wrong about this but it seemed like the height of soda popularity was in the 80’s. Right about the same time that Coke and Pepsi did the bait and switch on us by changing their star ingredient to HFCS over sugar. Most people today still drink soda, but many other drinks are coming to the forefront such as bottled water, energy drinks, and fruit juice ( the latter two usually mixed with HFCS). I have issues with all of these which I will address in later posts, but at least people are trying different things, however misguided they may be. Just as it took a couple of decades for people to really get the message about smoking I think the same will be the case for soda. Eventually drinking soda should be viewed by society as an occasional splurge, or if used frequently a self destructive behavior much like smoking is.

As a kid I can still remember my parents occasionally stopping at 7/11 to buy the small bottles of coke that was the “original formula” because it tasted better. That was the coke that still had real sugar in it. You can still find it today in Mexican grocery stores where it is imported as “Mexican Coca Cola” also made with real sugar. Other than the occasional original coke (when it was still available), soda was never a part of our household diet. It wasn’t stocked in our refrigerator or cupboards, and in those days kids couldn’t buy soda or other junk food in vending machines at school like they can now. Basically it just wasn’t readily available for me so I never really developed an addiction to it like so many other Americans have. I have found however, that soda (especially coke) is very useful for dissolving caked up battery acid on your car battery. Aside from that utilitarian use I can honestly say as an adult soda has never been a regular item on my grocery list; it only makes an appearance when other people who are visiting might want it. This is a direct result of my environment while growing up which just gives proof that the choices parents make are often the same choices children will make when they grow up. Food for thought…

At times when we do get a hankering to drink soda in our household, for example on Superbowl Sunday, then we will typically get a local root beer or ginger ale made with cane sugar which you can normally find at Whole Foods, Trader Joes, or other organic grocers. Speaking of the Superbowl, advertising is the biggest pusher of soda. We are bombarded with ads basically telling us try it, it’s cool and everyone’s doing it. Advertising plays a huge part in the American society. It tells us how we are supposed to live, persuades our brains into thinking what is and isn’t right for us. It especially tells us what to eat and drink. In the 70’s there was Pittsburgh Steeler Mean Joe Green downing a full bottle of coke that a little kid gave him, then he says “here kid catch” when he throws him his terrible towel. While this commercial is a cultural classic, it is still pure influential advertising at its best. Give Mean Joe credit though; at least his coke probably was made with real sugar and not High Fructose Corn Syrup. Back in the 80’s Michael Jackson caught his hair on fire for a new generation of Pepsi drinkers. Then in the 90’s Prime Time Deion Sanders ran like the roadrunner from Wylie coyote for a Pepsi Superbowl commercial. This year we’ve gone full circle with Pittsburg Steeler Troy Palamalu doing his imitation of the original coke commercial from Mean Joe Green, albeit with the new HFCS version of Coca Cornla. See the original below.

You have to wonder do these athletes and celebrities even know what they are promoting, or are they just blinded by the extra millions they are making? Some of these millions are probably coming from the money saved by Coke and Pepsi when they switched over to HFCS. It’s a vicious cycle. The bottom line is while the public that drinks this carbonated corn syrup gets fatter, the celebrities who promote this and the executives who push it are getting fatter with cash.

If you really want to know the difference between the coke that Mean Joe drank in the 70’s, and the Coca Cornla that Troy Palamalu drank in 2009 then try an imported Mexican coke made with real sugar, and then drink one with made with High Fructose Corn Syrup (found everywhere). You might notice the filmy bad breath taste left in your mouth by the new version, not that the old version full of sugar is much better. What would be better is to forget the soda and drink a good old fashioned glass of ice water. Its free, calorie free, and your body is already made up of about 70% water anyway. If I was going to make a commercial I’d say “Drink water for that great refreshing natural taste”!

After reading the comments posted on the article by readers it’s clear that some locals are opposed to the new bridge proposal; but that is not surprising. Outside of the Portland metro area Oregon and Southern Washington become ultra conservative very fast. Most of these folks are more concerned about potential tolls or tax costs that might be put on the residents of Oregon and Washington than they are with alternative energy or other progressive measures. In any case here is a link to more information about this development followed by the comments from local readers of The Oregonian newspaper.

New I-5 Bridge Proposal Article

There are basically two sides to the microwave debate. One side says dioxins, toxins, and all sorts of other things are released from plastics and styrofoams when heated in the microwave. This same principle applies to things such as hot coffee poured into a Styrofoam cup. While some of this might be overstated I tend to agree with this camp. Basic common sense tells you that food and artificially manufactured materials like styrofoam and plastic wrap should not be heated with your food. Something is bound to be released or melted into your food, even if you can’t see or taste it. Keep in mind that these products are not biodegradable, which is a good reason to avoid using them altogether. Aside from that imagine if they get into your body through cooking. It only makes sense that your body can not naturally dispose of them or break them down either.

The other side says as long as the container or covering (as in saran wrap) doesn’t melt then its ok. Additionally they say if the government (FDA) deems it “microwave safe” then go ahead and nuke it to the max. Well that’s just groovy. We can always count on the government to have the best intentions and completely ignore special interest groups and lobbyist that might otherwise persuade them to give consumers misleading information. Yeah right. Without getting too political here I think I can safely say that one should never “misunderestimate” the government to be more than one step behind when it comes to important and accurate information on health and technology. That is not even taking into consideration the politics of what is released, blocked, or covered up by the government. Just in case you are interested in what the USDA has to say on this matter you can visit this USDA site. They do at least recommend that plastic wrap used in the microwave should never come in contact with food, and containers such as butter bowls and plastic bags should never be microwaved in order to prevent harmful chemicals from getting into your food. So basically they are saying it is kind of safe. But if it is only kind of safe then why use these products at all?

Personally I think that if you are going to heat your food in a plastic bowl at the least make sure that it is deemed microwave safe. If at all possible just put your food in a solid container like ceramic or microwave safe glass. I have started using microwave safe glass containers purchased at The Container Store and Crate and Barrel which come in similar shapes and sizes as most Tupperware. They have removable plastic lids to keep your food fresh and sealed but you obviously remove those before heating. I’d also suggest using a lunch cooler everyday instead of lunch bags, along with a reusable stainless steel cup for drinking water,  tea, or coffee. This will help keep a lot of non-biodegradable packaging junk out of the landfills, and carcinogens out of your food and drink.