sustainable seafood guide

During my masters course I had to do a report on the current state of a fishery, the laws and regulations associated with it, and how stocks were monitored.  Let me tell you, reading about overfishing is depressing.  There are many problems ranging from fishing techniques to the enforcement of regulations.  Fish numbers are depleted while the laborious and time-consuming task of finding sustainable fishery solutions is underway.

Choosing sustainable seafood can be rather difficult.  One approach is to look for the "certified sustainable seafood" label, endorsed by the Marine Stewardship Council.  Their website has data on sustainable fisheries around the world.  My strategy?  I downloaded Australia's Sustainable Seafood Guide from the Australian Marine Conservation Society.  I can just search by the name of the fish and results pop up on whether this fish is a "say no", "think twice" or "better choice".  Details of why they have arrived at that conclusion are listed.  It's all about being a better-informed consumer!  Another easy thing to do is to shop at Aldi, who have an initiative to support sustainable fishing practices.

soft plastics

Did you know that most types of plastics, including plastic bags, are recyclable?  The only problem is that not everything that's recyclable can get thrown into your recycle bin for weekly pick up.  RED group is "rethinking recycling" and the list of plastic products they recycle is impressive.  There isn't a heap more effort that needs to be put in since they have collection bins at Coles stores.  We have just put a box in the laundry room and collect things in there.  It actually takes ages to accumulate enough for drop-off, so the biggest change is in our behaviour.  I admit that it's pretty easy to remember to save the bread bags, but I often have to remind myself that frozen food and confectionary packaging can be recycled.  Between eliminating food and plastic waste, our bin is much less full.  I suspect if we look closer at what else we throw away we will probably find some other ways we can reduce our waste.

recycled t-shirt bunny

For Christmas I made my niece and my daughter, who were 9 months and 6 months respectively, soft bunny toys.  As I had just started this blog, I didn't have the forethought to take a photo of the two cute bunnies when they were clean and unused, or perhaps even pose them with the girls to up the cuteness factor.  Regardless, here is a photo of my daughter's bunny.

Hopefully you cannot see how dirty this toy is...

Chez Beeper Bebe has been so kind to blog about this project and you are able to print out a pattern and instructions.  So generous!  I didn't adapt this project much at all--it's already meant to be a way to recycle t-shirts.  I simply opted not to add the pom-pom tail because I needed the bunny to be more baby-friendly.  My daughter was a fan immediately and has spent a lot of time with those ears in her mouth.  Perhaps this bunny will get her through teething??

pillow covers

This will be quite a short post because this is a pretty short project.  Basically if you have large enough t-shirts it's pretty easy to use the jersey like fabric and make pillows or pillow covers.  My inspiration was from the ducklings in a row tutorial on pillows made from men's button-down shirts.  Simple measurements and a quick run through the sewing machine is all it took, then I closed the pillows in with a slip stitch.  I wanted to do that properly so I followed directions from michelle patterns which were fabulous.  It buries the knot well which came naturally to me because it's a similar technique to what we do in surgery!

dolman from man's t-shirt

I admit that before I saw this project I didn't even know what a dolman top was.  Of course I had seen the style before, but I had no idea what its name was.  I found this project at trash to couture and instantly knew what shirt I'd be modifying: one of my humongous band t-shirts that I've never been able to part with but never wear because it would be like wearing a tent.

This was what I would call my first "real" sewing project.  I made sure to watch the tutorial before starting so I wouldn't screw anything up.  Turns out this was really easy and I love the result, especially the new ruching at the bottom.  I think the 80's vibe of the dolman style works really well with this cheesy Weezer shirt.

Sorry for the craptastic selfie

singlet from an old t-shirt

Let's be real about this...maybe you had a t-shirt that you really loved but one day you forgot to wear deodorant and you destroyed it.  No matter how many soaks in vinegar solution you do, that smell is in that fabric for life.  Sound familiar?  Hopefully not.  But if you made this mistake, like I did, then this project is perfect for you.  It's also a nice way to redo an oversized concert t-shirt.

crafterhours posted this tutorial on tee to tank.  Like the t-shirt necklaces, this is an incredibly easy sewing project.  You have the option for more sewing to provide refined edges, but I opted out since I was just getting back into the hang of sewing.  Plus I actually like the way cut jersey looks.  My advice for completing this project is to use a safety pin as your "needle" to thread the drawstring through.  Here's a look at the singlets I made:

Two lines of stitching, that's it!

t-shirt repurposing=necklaces

The next few posts will be a bit outside the box.  I had a stack of old t-shirts that we were done with, but really weren't suitable for donation.  I decided that instead of throwing them away I should try to repurpose the fabric.  Pinterest was very helpful in pursuing projects, as were craft blogs.  I'm not a sewer, and hadn't used a sewing machine in 10 years when I started these projects!  So I started slow and my first go was with making t-shirt necklaces.

The tutorial is here.  The first necklace I made was hand-sewn, then the others were by machine.  These are ridiculously easy to make.  If your jersey is not as stretchy then the pieces don't curl around on themselves as well, but I like the different texture it gives the necklace.  These necklaces are perfect if you have a baby: they are soft, won't break and are washable!

bokashi--part 2

Bokashi juice

Here's where we get down to the nitty gritty.  Above is some yummy yummy bokashi juice.  Make sure you read the preceding sentence with a lot of sarcasm.  This juice that comes out of the bottom of the bucket is loaded with beneficial bacteria and has a wide range of uses.  It's meant to reduce algae build up in your drains.  Diluted it acts like fertilizer.  I did dilute it and use it to help out my chilies and capsicum plants which were struggling and now they are all doing quite well and laden with peppers.  However, I think the juice smells like vomit.  I suppose that depends on what goes into the bucket and we tend to put mainly fruits and vegetables in which produce more liquid.  The bucket itself usually doesn't smell when I lift the lid and the bokashi has a sickly sweet smell to it.  The juice, though, is rank.  As long as I'm able to lift the bucket, I prefer to perch it over the edge of the sink and drain it straight in while I have the water running.

Ready to bury

In order to complete the last steps of breakdown, the fermented food needs to be buried in the soil.  When you go to bury the contents, you have to wait a week after the food at the top has been put in so it has a chance to ferment.  You can see in the picture how the food is covered in white mold, which means to process is working.  Green mold is another story, but fortunately that hasn't happened to us.  I reckon it all begins to look slightly yellow like it's pickling.  This is where I was crossing my fingers that everything worked like it should.  I was worried that our rocky, dusty soil wasn't even quality enough to complete the breakdown process.  Fortunately everything worked well.  I checked the soil about three weeks later and was having problems finding any evidence of food.  I started to think that maybe I had the wrong area of the garden, but I did come across an eggshell which hadn't broken down yet.  It's like magic!  My hope is that over time we will end up with quality soil throughout our garden.

Just needs to be covered in soil

bokashi--part 1

Growing up in a family that composts, I feel a sense of guilt every time I throw away food at home.  Of course when you live in an apartment or a rental property, your options for compost are limited.  I had assumed that I would not do any composting until I owned a house and could lay out my own garden plan.  However a few months ago I looked at our waste and realized that a majority of it was food waste(!) so I decided to research my options.

The scheme that I found which would work best for my family's situation is the bokashi bucket.  This is not the stinky, hot composting you might be used to...it's a fermentation process.  This small bucket collects all your food waste, requiring little upkeep, then the contents get buried in your garden once the bucket is full.  It will take me a couple posts to relay all the info, but the super short conclusion is that I'm really happy with this system.  It's basically composting for the lazy.  The bucket can sit right there in the kitchen, collecting everything, and you barely have to do anything to keep it all running smoothly.

I was able to find a start up system at Bunnings Warehouse.  You need the bucket with its spigot at the bottom, a cup for draining the juice, and some active bokashi micro-organisms which come as either a spray or as granules.  We got it set up in a few minutes and started collecting food scraps.  This was my main selling point for this system--you can put ANY food in it.  Meat, citrus, cooked food, bread, whatever!  This is perfect for our family since we have two little ones that don't always finish their meals.

Upkeep consists of adding the micro-organisms after you add food, possibly squashing the contents down as the bucket fills, and draining the bokashi juice.  The juice doesn't start accumulating until a week or so after you've started using the bucket, but then it builds up every day.  When the bucket is full you bury the contents in the soil.  Honestly when you go to dig that hole in the garden, it feels like a leap of faith.  At that point the food doesn't look like it has done much to start on the breakdown process, but it all works!  The next post will have some photos to show what I'm talking about.

natures organics

Perhaps most Australians are quite familiar with the earth choice line, or anything from the parent company natures organics, but I am new to them.  When I moved to Australia from the US I didn't know anything about the cleaning product brands here.  I went through trial and error trying to find things that worked well but didn't cost a lot of money.  Something about the earth choice packaging didn't grab me, and honestly I wasn't sure if natural products could clean as well.  Of course I should have thought back to my childhood of cleaning with vinegar, but apparently I like to shop with my eyes instead of my brain.

My first natures organics product I bought was actually kid's bubble bath.  How could I say no when it was the cheapest product by far and wasn't going to fill the tub full of funny chemicals?  Then I moved on to the earth choice laundry detergent.  Let me tell you, when I saw how syrupy the stuff was, I was worried.  But I'm very happy with it and have been able to use it for normal laundry, baby laundry, cloth nappies, anything.  My latest addition is the earth choice dish soap, and it seems to do the job although possibly not the best product for greasy things.  I will have to conduct an experiment in that regard, though, since I always wash the oily or greasy things last when the dishwater is rather spent.

Natures organics has a philosophy of trying to lower their impact on the environment and recognises that there are many things to balance in aiming to do so.  That's pretty much how I feel about any environmentally conscious decision I make.  I like that the company uses recycled packaging and bioplastic, has a palm oil policy, and is cruelty free.  In general now that I have tried a few different products and have been pleased with them, I am more likely to seek out the natures organics range when I need to get soap, body wash, shampoo, etc.  I think it might be time for me to seriously consider all the different products I rinse down the drain on a regular basis.  Health and beauty products could be a whole other kettle of fish, though, so stay tuned.

buying local

The concept of buying local makes sense to me on a couple scales.  Shorter distances for the food in transit means less emissons.  Less shipping time should mean it's fresher, too, right?  You also have the ability to support the local community and smaller farms instead of large companies.

I assumed in buying local that I was going to have to start investigating my labels like crazy, ask shop keepers about origins of items and frequent farmer's markets.  In fact, we made one quick decision to utilise Aussie Farmers Direct and it's been heaps easier.  I don't have to question the origins of anything, they send you magazines where you can "meet" the farmers, and it's even easier for me since it's delivered to my door step.  Cost is slightly higher for some of the items, but many are very competitively priced.  The quality of everything has been overwhelming.  We are able to get fruit and vegetables which taste better and are nicer, and last for ages.  It turns out that one of my friends supplies the stone fruit for their fruit packs and I love that.  He says that he can't emphasise enough how good it is that the boxes are hand-packed.  That wasn't a selling point for me, but he knows the fruit business better than I do!

We get a fruit and vegetable pack delivered fortnightly.  When I tell friends about this service, the fact that I don't choose what's in the box seems to deter quite a few of them.  I admit that it took a bit of getting used to, but I barely even notice it now.  It actually really helped us get out of the rut of buying the same vegetables all the time, got us to try new recipes and forced us to only eat produce that is in season.

This topic of buying local will be continued at some point...the rest is a work in progress as I try to sort out which shops are best to get other items.  The "Made in Australia from local and imported ingredients" label irks me to no end...I would really be happy to see some eco-labelling environmental policy tools in action.  Anyone else feel that way?

toothbrushes

I'm one of those never-throw-the-toothbrush-out kind of people.  When I'm done with them, they all go to the cleaning cupboard to be tiny scrub brushes.  One time in high school I even made one into a bracelet.  However, I cannot even recall the last time I decided I was going to clean something so thoroughly that I used a toothbrush to do so!  Seeing as I'm not so good on the reusing front, and in general I'd like to lower my use of plastics (especially ones that aren't readily/obviously recyclable), maybe an alternative toothbrush would suit me.  My husband found these, actually: the environmental toothbrush.

A dentist in Brisbane invented this toothbrush, which is made of bamboo.  They're a bit basic, but last well and do the job just fine.  Another bonus is the low cost.  But I must say that as soon as I started using them I realised how many "comfort" design features regular toothbrushes have.  Flexible neck, contoured head, etc...this brush does not have that.  But I found out that although it was noticeable at first, in the long run I didn't care.

toilet paper

Where to start?  Bums.

Zoos Victoria launched their recycled toilet paper campaign "Wipe for Wildlife" and I was on board.  Pretty simple change to make to purchase recycled TP instead of other brands, right?  Actually it was slightly harder than expected.  Or should I say rougher?

I've never been loyal to a TP brand or spent time making sure I bought double-ply or whatever.  But I think you can agree with me that there are some brands out there that are much akin to tissue paper and it is not comfortable.  So it honestly took me nearly a year to find the brand of recycled toilet paper that I like the most.

Three cheers for Naturale (the one with the Orange Thighed Treefrog on the package).  It just works, isn't scratchy, and unlike many of its competitors, you wouldn't obviously notice that it was recycled.  Plus the good thing about recycled TP is that it is cheaper.  Bonus!

I have noticed that many of the other brands of TP are starting to carry forest-friendly labels regardless of being 100% recycled or not.  I haven't looked into this and compared it to the benefits of using recycled--maybe you can tell me?

beginnings

For years the choices I made as a consumer were mainly dictated by price and convenience.  Growing up without much money I came to associate the concepts of reduce, reuse and recycle with poverty rather than environmentalism.  I didn't even bother to learn more about environmental issues in any sort of depth until I was doing my Masters course.  Once I actually read about food security, climate change, water scarcity, conservation, extinction rates, etc, etc, I felt very overwhelmed.  My head was now full of arguments on both sides of so many issues and I was acutely aware of how complex environmental policy was.  After my course I found that once I was educated on these topics, I was unable to escape my conscience when faced with consumer decisions and in other aspects of daily life.

Here is a photo of one of my assignments.  We were exploring how to connect to an audience via artistic media.  I'm definitely not an artist, but I was happy with my concept.

The topic was climate change.  I was trying to evoke an emotional response as I highlighted the difference between outcomes for our planet and how they are dependent on our current actions.  Our hope for a worthwhile future lies in humans actively fighting against climate change, mainly through changes in lifestyle and consumer behaviour.  This is contrasted with the alternate future we will inherit if we take no action.  Rising sea levels and higher temperatures will have eliminated many habitats in the world to cause loss of species and biodiversity.  Only the opportunistic species would remain: the "pest" species of seagulls, rats and cockroaches.

After making the list of actions for this project, I decided I could try them out for myself.  I'd say this was my starting point in trying to "green" my life.  I have made small changes one at a time and still have more I can make.  So follow me as I make changes and use this blog to document how I find the process.

under construction

if it were 1998 i would have a little animation of a construction worker up on here...

obviously i'm in the middle of big changes to this site.  hopefully content will be up in just a few weeks.