3 heads of organic garlic

time to consume: 2 weeks
material: mesh = polyethylene (PE)
label = paper
staples = steel
time to decompose: PE = hundreds of years
paper = 1 to 3 months
steel = corrodes depending on environmental conditions

Dear All,
Sorry for the immense length of time that went by since the last post.
We were super busy turning into Studio Habeas Corpus; more on that later I promise.

Meanwhile, GREAT NEWS on the petition front:
the topic of Packaging substances used in organic food handling IS on the agenda of the upcoming spring meeting of the NOSB [National Organic Standards Board], which will be held April 25-27, 2016, in Washington DC.

Right before the NOSB's last meeting in the fall of 2015, I had delivered our first 4,500 signatures. Our petition remained OPEN after that, and for very good reason: polluting packaging is an ongoing problem, and we're only at the beginning of the fight toward the phasing out of plastics & metals in organic food packaging.

SO, THIS IS ROUND 2 - let's aim for 10,000 signatures! We're calling on all past signers to become motors of this change, by doing a sequence of simple things, BEFORE APRIL 14th, 2016:

1) SIGN if you haven't already
2) SHARE if you have already signed, on all social media possible. I cannot emphasize how important it is to share - this is where the momentum happens. If possible, share repetitively at a few days interval, to bring more visibility at different times for different people; also, remember to ask other people to sign AND share! If you are not on social media, consider copying this text in an email to friends who might be interested in signing.
3) COMMENT on the public platform of the NOSB (click on the 'Comment Now!' button at top right) before April 14th (1 week left)

4) GO TO THE MEETING if you are in the area & SPEAK YOUR MIND IN PERSON (you can reserve a slot for oral comments here before April 14th (1 week left)


THANK YOU AGAIN FOR YOUR TREMENDOUS SUPPORT!!!
Together, let's get rid of the materials polluting our lives.

Warmly,
The Bare Necessities


Useful links:

- Petition
- Washington, DC, Spring Meeting Details
- Written comment
- Oral comment


Note: from conversations with the NOSB's main office, it appears that since the NOSB board members are all volunteers, they might not have time to research topics
>>> therefore, consumers / commenters, besides stating their wishes, are welcome to provide background info & evidence (for example by pointing to scientific material & studies) and even propose action plans themselves.

I personally will propose a BEST PRACTICE OBLIGATION for starters: that all organic producers / handlers (including dairy) should adopt the least polluting practice currently on the market. [for example: all organic eggs switch to the paper pulp boxes, and plastic egg boxes stop being used]. This should be the easiest to visualize and implement, since there is no research / innovation involved, and the proof that it works is already on the market. Feel free to copy this and suggest this Best Practice Obligation if you feel so enclined.

PETITION DELIVERED

 1 cup of organic yogurt

time to consume: 5 minutes
material: container = polypropylene (PP)
label = cardstock
 lid = aluminum foil
time to decompose: container - hundreds of years
label – 2 months
lid – never

Dear All,
A huge THANK YOU for voicing your opinions on the necessity to move out of plastic & metal packaging for organic produce.

On October 5th, 2015, I delivered the petition to the National Organic Standards Board through their comment platform. It is now available to be viewed by all members of the board online, and will also be given to them as a hard copy.

The NOSB will have their fall meeting starting today! Oct 26-29 (sadly I cannot attend, but hope many of you will!). We did everything we could here, through public petitioning, to raise their awareness on the urgency of the topic. Meeting notes should be published later in the fall, so keep an eye out here http://www.ams.usda.gov/event/nosb-meeting-2015-vt and here http://www.ams.usda.gov/rules-regulations/organic/nosb/subcommittees/handling)

I am leaving the petition OPEN, since plastic packaging is an ongoing problem which needs more and more awareness. So don't hesitate to continue linking / posting about it.

Let's continue the good work!
Warm Regards to all,
+++
The Bare Necessities


Further actions:
- SPEAK AT THE MEETING: the most powerful thing you can do, if you are in Vermont or willing to travel there to attend the meeting in Stowe (Oct 26-29, 2015).
--- reserve a speaking slot here http://events.r20.constantcontact.com/register/event?oeidk=a07ebe5ji6xa75ef6c3&llr=5eqfe4dab
--- all logistical info here http://www.ams.usda.gov/event/nosb-meeting-2015-vt

SIGN THE PETITION !

Dear Readers, Minimal Lifestylers and Zero-Waste bloggers,

I just created the petition
"BAN THE USE OF PLASTIC PACKAGING FOR ORGANIC PRODUCE".

We have until October 5th to make our voices heard at the National Organic Standards Board (NOSB)! The idea is to put the topic of packaging pollution on the agenda of the next, or following meeting of the NOSB, which creates the guidelines followed by the USDA's National Organic Program in the USA.

Please help by adding your name
HERE.

Thank you for your time and care.

+

STOP THE PLASTIC PACKAGING OF ORGANIC PRODUCE

4 organic bananas
time to consume: 1 week
material: wrapping = transparent stretch film (material undisclosed)
tray = PS (polystyrene)
labels = adhesive paper
time to biodegrade: paper = 1-3 months   plastics = hundreds of years
(source :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biodegradation)
distributor : Market Basket, Demoulas Super Markets, Inc., USA
origin of produce : Columbia
manufacturer of packaging : Cryovac, Sealed Air corp., USA

 Organic produce is packaged IN MANY TIMES MORE PLASTIC than conventional produce.

To use the words of the Plastic Pollution Coalition:
"- Plastic never goes away
 - Plastic spoils our groundwater
 - Plastic attracts other pollutants
 - Plastic piles up in the environment
 - Plastic poisons our food chain
 - Plastic affects human health
 - Plastic threatens wild life
 - Plastic costs billions to abate"

YET, the consumers probably MOST AWARE of this dire situation, i.e. the consumers making the effort and paying a premium to have a less polluting, more organic/natural lifestyle, are the ones having to consume the MOST PLASTIC when purchasing their food.

The labelling, transportation, traceability and shelf constraints imposed on organic produce especially, result in fruits and vegetables needing to carry labels and protection against the elements and fraud. This function is important, as it allows to build trust between organic producers, distributors and consumers.

However, most of the current materials used in organic packaging (styrofoam, polyethylene, aluminum, etc. - gallery here) are environmentally destructive. Beyond a certain scale, organic producers use packaging machines which have been designed to use specific types of plastic elastic bands / labels / meshes, etc, and have little leverage to change the status quo.

So, how can we act?

In the USA, the production and handling of organic produce is regulated by the USDA's National Organic Program.
This program follows the directions defined by the NOSB (National Organic Standards Board). This is supposedly a grassroots committee which records public comments & concerns.  They meet twice a year, and 30 days before each meeting they welcome people's written or oral comments.

The interesting thing about this system is that:
1) The meetings' agendas are defined independently from the public's comments and concerns. There is no reading of public comments during the meetings either. From what I understand, the comments are handed out at the end for who wishes to read them
2) It's almost impossible to find the page where to submit comments; the average number of comments the NOSB receives for each meeting is 1100 (of about 90,000,000 households who "purchase organic food at least sometimes")
3) However, if an issue is brought up enough times in the comments, they might consider putting it on the next agenda 


After lengthy phone calls with members of the USDA (who were by the way extremely lovely and patient), here is the info that will allow you to act right now, if you, like me, are concerned by this issue.
- The next meeting of the NOSB is at the end of October 2015
- The comments section for that meeting just opened a few days ago. You have until MONDAY OCTOBER 5th, 2015 to make your voice heard, either in writing or by voice recording.
- GO HERE and click on the COMMENT NOW! blue button at the top right of the page, to demand:

THE PHASING OUT OF PLASTIC PACKAGING FOR ORGANIC PRODUCE

THE OBLIGATION FOR THE ORGANIC INDUSTRY TO INVEST IN TRULY COMPOSTABLE MATERIALS AND HARMLESS TECHNOLOGIES

THE GOVERNMENTAL AND/OR PRIVATE SUPPORT OF MAJOR RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT IN ENVIRONMENTALLY BENIGN PACKAGING.

- Not "recyclable plastic" (only 8% of plastic gets recycled anyway)
- Not "recycled plastic" (it's still plastic)
- Not "biodegradable plastic" (they are controversial as to their carbon footprint and end result)

DEMAND A FOCUS ON NATURAL FIBERS, NATURAL WAXES, AND MECHANICAL TECHNIQUES, AND ANY OTHER SOLUTION USING EASILY RENEWABLE AND NON POLLUTING ELEMENTS.

Thank you for being here.
++

FRUIT & VEGGIES GROCERY BAGS

Finally finally I took the step of purchasing small reusable bags for fruits and vegetables.
(found them at this store - they are supposed to be tool bags (?), according to the owner)

These are the bag-within-a-bag kind: they are replacing the thin plastic bags that are offered to pack fresh produce in the supermarket - we were getting absolutely overwhelmed with their number (as opposed to the thicker ones, which we had already managed to reduce by bringing in reusable shopping bags).

I got 5 of them to start with. They are 8 x 10 inches (20 x 25 cm), which comfortably fits 5-6 oranges / apples at the time - the amount I usually get when grocery shopping.

So excited about this.
However mine seem made of 100% cotton with a cotton string, and I wouldn't be surprised if they were imported from faraway (cost was around $2 each).

Advantages over plastic:
- no noise
- soft to the touch
- can be washed with all your other clothes in the laundry
- super strong
- lasts for years and years and years
- no pollution / waste during its use time

If you wish to have a really sustainable version of these, I recommend making your own out of hemp or linen muslin. Cotton is just too much of a pesticide and water intensive crop (unless you get it organic, from non-irrigated fields), whereas hemp is truly good (grows without any chemicals and cleans the soil naturally).

I was too lazy and impatient to make them myself, but that's really not an excuse (a lot of the ugly state of the environment today is directly linked to the fact that we're lazy and impatient). Apologies.

the gift of trash

 photo by Ryan Hyde

This type of situation has been happening to me a few times now and shows how FAR FAR AWAY from societal awareness we are when it comes to wasteful habits:

I was eating at a burrito chain, sitting inside the restaurant after having carefully chosen the meal that came in a paper plate only, using my own metal cutlery and fabric napkin. Realizing I had forgotten to take tortilla, I returned to the counter and asked for a single tortilla. The behind-the-counter lady threw one on the grill for re-heat, and then proceeded to grab a piece of aluminum foil to wrap it.

Swiftly I interfered and told her that I didn't need the aluminum, since I was sitting a few feet away and would eat it right away anyhow. She stopped mid-way with a question-mark look, when a behind-the-counter guy who had overheard me came forward, grabbed the tortilla and asked: 'you don't want aluminum?' I repeated 'No, I don't need it, I am going to eat it right away'. Looking at me straight in the eye, he took the tortilla, pulled out the aluminum foil, and proceeded to wrap it very intently, saying 'no, no I will wrap it for you'. He then triomphantly handed me the tortilla doubly wrapped in aluminum and paper, with a big smile on his face. During this gesture in slow motion I was caught between incredulity - at how somebody could disregard so blatantly a request I had expressed 2 or 3 times clearly - and how absurd it was, that they were thinking they were doing me a big generous favor by handing me a totally unecessary piece of one of the most polluting metals on earth.

(enter this graph, created from data found on greenspec:)

EMBODIED ENERGY OF MATERIALS

See that lonely point floating up high, waaay above all other materials? - yep, that's aluminum. and yes, this is including recycled aluminum)

I also remember the flight attendant who pushed new plastic glasses on me as I was saying I could perfectly well continue using the one I already had, 'oh but darling we have plenty here, let me give you a new one.' Oh thank you madam for your great generosity. I love plastic so much, you're making my day.

The sad thing is, these people were really trying to be nice. They were really expressing care in over-wrapping or providing something for me. And the awful fact is, our current material situation forces them to apply this ancient, timeless show of human kindness to very unhealthy objects.

Seriously. I'd rather eat cold tortilla.

soap

Hey good people. Haven't written in a long time, so busy with work.

Today, another of our David vs. Goliath battle: BODY WASH vs. BAR SOAP

I don't know if it's the same for you; as a child growing up in the eighties, I was washed and learned to wash myself with bar soap, and that was pretty much it for the first decade of my life. Then, somewhere in the nineties, shower gels started being the way to go. Waaaay cooler, adieu slippery soap and minuscule leftover bits. The modern man wants a sexy, tropical shower experience smelling like passion fruit, in a civilized vertical bottle.

I was trapped into this marketing dream until very recently myself. Awake now.
Been having a few conversations with co-workers, about how plastic packaging makes us feel guilty ('where the fuck does the freaking bottle GO after I've dumped it in the trash while closing my eyes?'). More and more I want to try to have all the stuff I buy and use be biodegradable or compostable. And stop giving my money to Procter & Gamble, in exchange for garbage I'll have to dispose of myself.

Cause let us be clear: when you spend $3.99 for a bottle of mainstream shampoo, you buy:
- 1 month-worth of liquid shampoo (containing potentially harmful chemicals)
- a bottle-shaped 100 years-worth of soft plastic, which society will have to dispose of one way or another. This might include having a poor chap wearing a mask and gloves dig into your pile of garbage at the sorting factory, the killing of baby birds on Midway Island, bringing your own personal addition to the Giant Garbage Patch, etc.

I have this secret dream that one day I'll gather up the time to make pretty cardboard packages and send back to L'Oreal each one of the plastic bottles I've finished using.


Meanwhile, I am switching back to bar soap, preferably without palm oil. I found Aleppo Soap (not a brand, but a type of soap made in Syria). Ingredients: olive oil, laurel oil, water, lye. 100% DISAPPEARS after use.

For $3.59, you buy SOAP, and you get...SOAP. That's it.
Easy switch, no?

Note: the one I just got isn't totally perfect, as you can see on the photo it's wrapped in an extra thin layer of cellophane (yuk), but I've seen soap bars in other places which have no / or just a paper wrapping. Next time will aim for that.

Btw, this particular Aleppo soap smells deliciously of jasmine, suds just as much as the old gels, and gives this clean feeling on the skin that only bar soap manages to create.