NRCM Blog

Talkin' Turkey

Gotta love a good story. Hearing, reading or spinning a good yarn. There’s nothing better. I have a few in my repertoire that I tell over and over and over. (My husband still nods politely or gasps on cue even if he isn’t listening to a word of it). Here are my top five favorite subjects:

1. “I shouldn’t have survived that.”
2. “Dangerous encounters with wildlife.”
3. “Getting lost in foreign and domestic lands.”
4. “Weird things my kids do.”
5. “Grossest things I’ve eaten.”

On that note, I’ve got one that falls into category number five that I tell EVERY year right around Thanksgiving. So, you’ve been warned. Reader discretion advised.

It was Thanksgiving 2003. I flew on a snowy evening from Portland, Oregon, to Missoula, Montana, to spend the holiday with my good friends, Bill and Emily.

In preparation, Bill had shot a turkey for the feast. So, we spent an entire day cooking. We made cranberry sauce—the best cranberry sauce I’ve ever tasted, I might add. We made gourmet stuffing with every herb under the sun. We snapped and cooked beans. We peeled and boiled potatoes and carrots. We watched dough rise for rolls. We even baked squash. We made not one pie, but three— two pumpkin and one blueberry.

As an environmentalist, writing on an environmental blog, I have to add that not one scrap of food was wasted. Bill and Emily ate leftovers for weeks, so be assured that we were being just a little gluttonous. Well, the pumpkin pie for breakfast the next morning was a little over-the-top excessive but back to the story…

After all that preparation, we sat down to eat somewhere around 7 o’clock at night. We heaped our plates full and dug in. It was all that we hoped it would be.

I was well into this interesting side dish before I paused to wonder why I couldn’t remember fixing it. It looked to be grains of different varieties, or maybe grasses, with berries mixed in.

I turned to Bill and Emily to ask, “What IS this?”

Bill jumped out of his bean bag chair and exclaimed, “I FORGOT TO CLEAN THE TURKEY’S CROP!”

Not only did we not waste a morsel but we also reused the turkey’s dinner. Now that I think about it—what great environmentalists we were that Thanksgiving in 2003.

- Stacie Haines, NRCM Membership Manager

Time well spent

I am a talker. Ask anyone who knows me, and they will tell you that I like to talk. My mom told me a story recently that I had never heard. She said when I would come home from school in the first grade, I would talk to her about every single thing that I did that day at school. She said finally she had to make a deal with me that I wasn't allowed to talk for 30 minutes after I got home, so she had time to unwind (she taught at my school) before listening to me tell her about my day.

Some people who are good talkers aren't always good listeners. It's hard to do both...and impossible to do both at the same time. I try to find a balance and like to listen to people and their stories. And working at NRCM, I get to talk to - and listen to - a lot of people and hear about why they love Maine and its environment.

One of the best parts of my job as NRCM's public affairs coordinator is that I get to answer phone calls and emails from people who contact us about a variety of issues. Sometimes they send in photos for our "My Maine This Week" feature on our website. Sometimes they just want to give us an updated mailing address. Other times, they have specific questions about projects on which we are working. Whatever the reason, I try to handle their request and get back to them in as timely a manner as I can.

Today, I received a phone call from a woman who had seen our recent ad in Down East magazine. We are running a membership special now through the end of January and she called to ask some questions. I gave her the information she wanted, and then she told me about her connections to Maine - which started in the mid 1950s when she came up here to work at a summer camp as a swim instructor and attend another summer arts program. She told me of overnight camping with third graders near Harrison. She told me of crafts projects and times spent on Long Pond. She told me of getting lost in the woods near the coast with a group of camp staff. She lives in Pennsylvania but said her daughter and granddaughter live in Maine - and she told me of their outdoor interests and activities in Maine. She said she won't get here for the holidays due to illness, but that she has spent many Christmases here...never knowing from one year to the next whether there would be no snow or several inches of snow on the ground.

She talked to me for quite some time, telling me her story and how she hadn't lived in Maine since those summers in the 50s, but that she had a connection to our state for more than 50 years.

I did share some of my own story - my connection to summer camps in Maine for the past thirty years, and also mentioned, since we talked a lot about the water, how I, along with some coworkers and NRCM supporters, will be racing into the Atlantic on December 31st for our polar plunge. She laughed and said she had never, in all of her years on the water, been asked to participate in a polar dip. I told her she was the lucky one! :) She took down my name and said she would be thinking of me and encouraging me to move quickly as I ran in and out of the water at East End Beach. I thanked her and said once I thawed out, I would be sure to send her a note to confirm my survival, and would include a photo or two of the event just for fun.

When we were getting off the phone she said, "My dear, I feel like I have reconnected with Maine today." Being able to help people connect - or reconnect, in this case - with Maine and its natural beauty....is one of the reasons I am so happy that I get to do the work that I do here at the Natural Resources Council of Maine.

-Beth Dimond, Public Affairs Coordinator

Got Your (Lead-free) Bags, Maine?

Have you heard the big news about lead being found in reusable plastic shopping bags? I’ll bet some of you may have already chucked your reusable bags and may have sworn them off altogether. Others may be wondering what to do.

Here’s my take: We definitely don’t want Maine people to stop using reusable bags over these recent concerns.

If you’re concerned about lead in reusable plastic bags, you can use and reuse canvas, mesh, nylon, or cloth bags, which are also washable for all your shopping needs and we urge you to do so.

Lead is a dangerous neurotoxin and has no business being in any product, let alone reusable shopping bags that come into contact with food. These recent discoveries highlight the need for new safer chemicals policies that require companies to test for and eliminate toxic hazards like lead in all consumer products. 

If there is lead in a reusable plastic shopping bags, it’s in the paint or dye used to color the design of the bag. Obviously, there are non-toxic ways to color these bags, and safer alternatives should be used for all applications.

Mainers collectively use and dispose of over 700 million shopping bags a year. That’s over 2 million bags used and two million bags thrown away every single day. These bags end up in landfills, on streets, in our lakes and streams and the bellies of wildlife. In the case of plastic bags, they can take decades, even centuries, to break down. Even then, they still leave toxic petrochemicals in the environment. 

Also, the creation of disposable paper and plastic bags uses valuable natural resources – natural gas and trees – to manufacture a product that is either reused once or quickly thrown away. 

Using reusable bags helps prevent billions of disposable plastic and paper bags from being used in the first place and keeps them out of our environment, not to mention reduces the use of precious natural resources, like natural gas and trees, to make them.

Although it’s illegal to sell products made with lead paint or dyes in the United States, companies still use them in products manufactured overseas and destined for our stores. 

It’s time to pass policies that require manufacturers to randomly test their products when there is credible evidence that lead or other toxic compounds like cadmium are being added overseas. This is what has happened for lead, cadmium and phthalates in toys and from what understand from recent data, the law is working to reduce and eliminate these compounds.

We also need new policies to identify and phase out the toxic chemicals that are legally added to products in this country each and every day. Check out some of my earlier blog posts for more on this subject and don’t forget your reusable bags next time you shop!

- Matt Prindiville, NRCM Clean Production Project Director

To see a WMTW news video featuring Matt, click here.

Canada and Maine Take Steps To Restrict BPA

Well.  It’s official, Canada has formally listed bisphenol-A (BPA) as a toxic substance and is moving forward to restrict its uses in consumer products.

Back here in Maine on October 7th, the Board of Environmental Protection took a step forward on BPA by exercising their authority to require an alternatives assessment for uses in infant formula and baby food. We had hoped that the BEP would take a bigger step by adopting actual use restrictions for BPA infant formula and baby food on BPA. But this is still a good opportunity to test out how the alternatives assessment authority for Maine’s Safer Chemicals Law will work in practice.  

Maine’s BEP will also most likely approve restrictions on BPA in reusable food and beverage containers (like baby bottles and the old Nalgene-type polycarbonate plastic water bottles).  Such action (which we hope will happen at their December 16th meeting) will mostly codify what the market has already done as you will be hard pressed to find any BPA-containing bottles in stores anymore.

Because the Board did not follow our full recommendation to immediately restrict uses of BPA in infant formula and baby food, Maine’s Department of Environmental Protection will now have to go through a laborious and time-consuming process to have industry conduct an assessment, review the information and make a recommendation. We could be waiting until as long as 2013 before a rule makes its way to the Legislature to restrict these BPA uses, and that’s too long to wait to protect Maine kids. 

However, even though it’s not an outright ban, the alternatives assessment process sends a message to manufacturers that the “handwriting is on the wall” for BPA. They also have to fund and create a legitimate alternatives assessment. Over the next six months, we will work with our friends in the Alliance for a Clean and Healthy Maine to ensure DEP moves swiftly so that these uses of BPA are scrutinized and recommendations are forthcoming for the 2012 legislative session. 

-Matt Prindiville, NRCM Clean Production Project Director

MOO(Milk) Needs YOU!

Seems like we hear it everyday: “Buy local.” “Go green.” “Buy organic.” “Support family farms.”

When a group of Maine farmers worked together to create MOOMilk, they probably were taking all that consumer buzz to heart. Their product fits all the criteria: MOOMilk is organic milk that is produced by Maine farmers. The kind of product we’re looking for so we can “walk the talk,” right?

Hmm. Maybe not.

As the Bangor Daily News is reporting MOOMilk is in danger of closing up shop, taking with it a great example of Maine’s entrepreneurial spirit in action – and the kind of product the public has been giving lip service to.

Fortunately, it’s not too late, and you can help by simply buying the product. It’s tasty and healthy, and it gives you the chance to put into action all those bumper stickers and t-shirt slogans about saving the planet – in this case, one farm at a time.

Actually, SIX farms—three in Aroostook County, three in Washington County.

And how about this for additional inspiration: in the wake of the MOOMilk’s struggles, the Aroostook County farmers could have begun shipping to another market but knew that if they did, service to the Washington County farms would stop, as they are too far out of the conventional trucking route for hauling their milk to be profitable. Instead, the Aroostook farmers have continued to band together with the farmers in Washington County.
If these farmers, whose very livelihood is on the line, can choose to stick together for the sake of a quality product like MOOMilk, can’t we stick with them, too?

MOOMilk is available at Hannafords (which recently lowered the price so that MOOMilk can more fairly compete with national, out-of-state brands). It’s also available at IGA, Shurfine, and elsewhere.

For more information about MOOMilk, please visit http://moomilkco.com/.

Allison Wells
Senior Director, Public Affairs
Natural Resources Council of Maine
(and Mom to a MOOMilk-drinking Family!)

Give Your Beauty Products a Makeover

Check out this great new video from the makers of the “Story of Stuff.”  If you’ve been wondering what nasty chemicals are lurking in your shampoo, deodorant or even toothpaste, this is the video to watch. When you’re done, don’t forget to send a message to our congressional delegation. Thanks for helping make our products safe!  - Matt Prindiville, Toxics Project Director

Making a difference in the Gulf

I received an email a few weeks ago from the librarian at Nobleboro Central School. The fifth grade students there spent the year selling items that range from pencil erasers to bubbles to "locker buddies" and more in their school store. Now that the school year is over, they got to choose where to donate their profits. This year, the class chose to donate their money to the National Wildlife Federation (NWF) in order to help with their clean up of wildlife, like sea turtles and pelicans, affected by the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

Since the Natural Resources Council of Maine is the state's affiliate of NWF, we were asked if someone from NRCM could come accept the check from the students and thank them for their donation.

I was delighted to be able to go to Nobleboro on Tuesday morning to thank the students, read an award of appreciation and letter from NWF, and accept their giant $300 check (I came back to NRCM to ask our bookkeeper if she could start paying me my salary on a giant check...it seemed much more fun and exciting than a regular payroll stub!).

The students were very attentive while I talked about NRCM and the work we do to protect Maine's air, water, forests, and public health. They were all sitting at their desks doing work on their laptops, so I talked briefly about Maine's e-waste law and our work to protect Mainers from toxics in various toys and other household items. One boy in the front row raised his hand and asked if I had heard about the "McDonald's cups." I said that I had...that 12 million Shrek glasses had to be recalled because of toxic chemicals found in them. It was so great to see young students so aware of current events related to the environment!

I thanked them for their decision to use their money to help wildlife in the Gulf. We talked about how it's important to help your friends and neighbors (and even your brothers and sisters...though that is sometimes harder!) nearby, but it is also important to help others (people and animals) around the country and around the world. We talked about how their gift was going to make a big difference to the wildlife clean up efforts along the Gulf Coast.

These students should be commended for their hard work and dedication to helping others. In years past, their school store funds have gone to local food pantries, animal shelters, and toward home heating assistance programs. This year, they decided to do what they can to help wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico. Way to go Nobleboro Central School! You are making a difference - here in Maine, and far away. I hope others are inspired by your good deeds and do all they can to help those affected by the disaster in the Gulf.

- Beth Dimond
NRCM Public Affairs Coordinator

"Haul-o-well" - new trash reduction pilot project in place

Hallowell, where I live, does not have municipal trash removal—each household has to contract with a trash hauler on its own to get curbside pick-up.  Riverside Disposal of Chelsea, my hauler, is offering a pilot project in which they will cut the customer’s weekly fee if you can get down to a single, 10 lb. bag of trash per week. They will recycle the rest, which they’ve broken down into two categories: containers and paper. They pick up one category per week, alternating from one to the other. 

They are also providing food composting buckets to customers.  We already compost, but the 5-gallon plastic bucket (for short-term storage inside the house) has been a great improvement for us.

My household is enthusiastically taking part, with 20 or 30 other customers.  After we signed up for the pilot project, they monitored our trash for a couple of weeks and told us that we had 36 lbs per week!  If that is truly average, that equals over 1,800 lbs a year—almost a ton for our three-person, two-cat operation.  So just knowing that was an eye-opener. We have two cats and a toddler, so diapers and kitty litter will probably make it very difficult to get down to 10 lbs., at least for a while.  We change the kitty litter once a week (in theory); I reckon that is 10 lbs. right there.  We may switch back to a scoopable litter; Riverside suggests one called Swheat Scoop.  Any other ideas out there?

It’s interesting that Riverside is doing this by weight, not by volume.  Some towns do pay-per-bag municipal trash pick-up (the residents must pay for bags) that are based on volume, at least nominally—though once the trucks get to the landfill the issue is weight. We are recycling a lot more plastic now, but it doesn’t weigh that much. Kitty litter, food and diapers seem to account for most of the weight.

But even recycling more stuff is kind of a “tailpipe” strategy. As I pondered our trash last weekend, I thought, “Reduce, re-use, recycle.” There’s a reason the words are in that order.  Start by reducing what you buy or bring in to your house. Think about the packaging of the products you buy, especially food, and favor items whose packaging is easier to re-use or recycle. Lastly, think about what you can re-use before tossing it into a bin.

There are more subtle strategies you can use.  We will move our recycling bins closer to the kitchen, the center of a lot of activity, and move the trash barrel further away.  (We also moved the paper towel roll far away from the sink, where they were always close at hand when I “needed” one.  I know we shouldn’t be using paper towels at all, blah blah blah...So sue me.)

I don’t think it’s much of a direct savings for the customer: Riverside already picks up recycling at no additional cost, as mandated by the city of Hallowell, and the price break is not big. But it’s a great program anyway.

As I mentioned, we’re already recycling our food waste in a composter in our vegetable garden—a good way to cut down on garbage volume.  The Maine Resource Recovery Association is offering low-cost composters to communities that sign up. You have to contact your town to see if it is taking part.   The city of Gardiner is:  http://www.kjonline.com/news/gardinercity-offering_green_-products_2010-05-06.html

And of course, the Natural Resources Council of Maine has been working for years, with great results, to keep toxic items out of the waste stream:  mercury-containing products and electronics, most notably. Governor Baldacci signed a landmark bill in March that makes “extended producer responsibility” part of Maine law: http://www.nrcm.org/news_detail.asp?news=3546

How is your city dealing with your garbage? Send us your trash tales!

-Mathew Scease

It's National Spring Cleaning Week - how will you celebrate?

So, my boss walked in my office yesterday and told me that it's National Spring Cleaning Week. I am not sure if she told me that because I have papers strewn all over my desk, along with a couple of mugs that haven't made their way to the kitchen yet, some hand sanitizer, a few assorted pens without their caps, ... I think you get the point. My office is not the paragon of cleanliness today.

I am not a neat freak by any stretch of the imagination, but luckily I have dodged the "pack rat" gene that some of my relatives possess. I am working hard to declutter my home - and today, looking around my office, I realize that a little decluttering here wouldn't hurt. And any time I think I may want to keep something that I really don't need, I think of the new shows about hoarders, and then I suddenly want to get rid of everything! I have been taking a lot of my clothes and household items to the local thrift store rather than just throwing them out - I know that my items are going to someone who needs them, and I am not adding to the local landfill.

Several years ago, when I first started at NRCM, I got to help put together a brochure about clean housekeeping. I spent a lot of time researching ways to make non-toxic householder cleaners, and learned a lot in the process. You can download this brochure or order a copy online at http://www.nrcm.org/publication_housekeeping.asp. There are non-toxic recipes for pest control (ants, slugs, fleas, etc.), toilet bowl cleaner, copper cleaner, and more.

Do you have suggestions you could share with us here about ways to replace toxic chemical cleaners with non-toxic alternatives? Please post a comment here and share your ideas with others.

I am not sure that National Spring Cleaning Week will ever replace my birthday as my new favorite holiday, but maybe I will try to celebrate it this year - using suggestions found in our Clean Housekeeping Guide. Happy cleaning everyone!

-Beth

Going on (a green) vacation

I read an interesting column in today's Kennebec Journal about the columnist's difficulty staying "green" while she and her family went away for a vacation.  You can read the full piece by Liz Soars here: kennebecjournal.mainetoday.com/view/columns/6774323.html.  But I will share a piece of it with you now:

"We are avid recyclers, and have a system at home involving plastic bins for returnables and plastic milk jugs, a wooden box for newspapers and, of course, our city-issued green buckets for cans and glass. We wash the tins and jars and toss them into the appropriate bucket or bin. Then we set them out on the curb on the appropriate day.

Couldn't be easier. And yet, nothing could be harder on vacation. The cans and glass still accumulate; actually, at a faster rate, as I don't want to be whipping up meals from scratch three times a day when I'm supposed to be enjoying a retreat from everyday duties.

But while we carefully rinsed and stored (in yet another brown paper bag) all our returnables, the other cans and glass went straight into the trash."

So, this got me to thinking - what is it that you do to make your vacations greener?  Do you think about all of the things that Ms. Soares thought about?  I wonder if you have tips for going green while going on holiday.  If so, please share them here so that others can take them into consideration when they head out before summer's end or as they travel this fall and winter.

I know that there are even some travel agencies who specialize in "green travel" - have you ever used one of these agencies?  If so, what has been your experience?

Have you stayed closer to home this summer because of the economy?  If so, did you find a great vacation location right here in Maine?

I know that most of the summer's weather didn't cooperate with vacations (with my vacations anyway...I picked the rainiest weeks of the summer!), but now that the weather is better, I have been out and about enjoying the warm summer weather.

My mother and I went on a windjammer cruise out of Portland - two hours on an 85-year-old schooner that was built in 1924 in East Boothbay and has sailed all over the world.  What a beautiful way to see Portland Harbor and the Portland waterfront - as well as Portland Headlight, Bug Light, and Spring Point lighthouse.

I hope you are all having a great summer!  Hope to hear from you!

- Beth, Public Affairs Coordinator