PROBLEM:
Chlorine used to bleach coffee filters releases dioxin, a poisonous toxin, into your coffee. The EPA says that using bleached coffee filters alone can result in a lifetime exposure to dioxin that “exceeds acceptable levels.” (Yikes!)

SOLUTION:
Look for unbleached or recycled filters or switch to a permanent nylon, stainless steel or gold-plated metal filter to save paper. The good news is that simply choosing the brown filters over the white ones at the supermarket is easy and costs the same! Here are some good filter options:

If You Care Coffee Filters

Unbleached Paper Coffee Filters by Greenfeet

Medelco Permanent Coffee Filter

Need a last minute holiday gift idea for your eco-friendly buddies? Check out these tees, all made with 100% organic cotton and perfect for your “greenest” pals.

PopShops™ affiliate stores

FRESHFARM Markets has created an online tool that lets you check off ingredients you have on hand and search for recipe suggestions. The page is currently divided into Fall and Year-Round ingredients to anticipate items most often sold at farmer’s markets during autumn.

I experimented with the page and found these tasty suggestions:

Risotto ai Funghi ~ Risotto of Wild Mushrooms ~
Dominic’s Pumpkin-Bread Pudding
Asparagus Soup

Use the FRESHFARMMarket.com recipe finder here.

Barbie Doll Spoons via TreeHugger.com

View “Clever and Crazy Recycled Design Ideas from Latin America” slideshow at TreeHugger

[via SeriousEats]

Image by Marco Veringa, flickr

The NYTimes had a great Op-Ed piece recently on the plight of organic farmers. Titled “You Say Tomato, I Say Agricultural Disaster“, the story spells out the latest challenge for farmers in the Northeast: a plant disease that attacks potatoes and tomatoes. This year the disease appeared much earlier than usual in the growing season.

The disease is called “late blight”, hence it typically appears “late” in the season. This year however it showed up early and covered the Northeast in just a few days. Topical organic preventative measures have been much less effective than in years past:

Jack Algiere, head vegetable farmer at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture… lost more than half his field tomatoes in three days. Other organic farmers were forced to make a brutal choice: spray their tomato plants with fungicides, and lose organic certification, or watch the crop disappear. Even for farmers who routinely spray, or who reluctantly spray precautionary amounts, this year’s blight lowered yields. (Fungicides work only to suppress the disease, not cure it.) As one plant pathologist told me, “Farmers are out there praying and spraying.”

If you’re like me and enjoy flavorful organic tomatoes, it’s going to be much harder to get them this year. And when you do find them, expect to pay more. So goes the challenge of organic farming… It’s more difficult to control the spread of disease without the use of conventional methods (and pesticides), but it’s oh so much better tasting and better for you.

Fingers crossed that this setback does not hurt farmers too badly. I need my tomatoes.

I went hunting for eco-friendly and sustainable products and wasn’t disappointed. Check out some of my finds:

Sustainable Earth-Friendly Hangers by Richards Homewares

These non-varnish natural finished wood hangers are made from wood that comes from a certified managed forest. By switching to these eco-friendly hangers, you support the fight against illegal foresting.

Wall Mirror Made of Recycled Newspaper

This intricately pieced eco-friendly newspaper mirror creates a striking effect with its grey and sporadic multi color striped design. Environmentally friendly with a modern chic look.

Geranium Surface Scrub by Mrs. Meyer’s

This amazing surface cleaner is made with natural essential oils, is biodegradable and phosphate-free, and never tested on animals. Made with a naturally safe ash and non-chlorine oxygen bleach, phosphate-free and biodegradable.

Extra Large Bowl – Turquoise Confetti by Zak! Designs

Made with recycled melamine, this eco-friendly bowl has a retro look inspired by the 50’s with colorful splashes of confetti on a bright turquoise background. BPA, PVC, phthalate, and lead safe.

Check out the entire selection of Eco-Friendly Products

Photo by Eric Bégin, flickr

If you have an old fur coat stored in the attic somewhere and no idea how to get rid of it, here’s a thought. Donate it to The Humane Society’s Coats for Cubs program. Coats for Cubs cuts up the donated furs and uses them to warm and comfort orphaned and injured wildlife. More than 200 rehabilitators from across the United States and Canada now participate in the program.

Watch a video about the program here.

The furs are cut into an appropriate size for the animal and placed inside the animal’s enclosure. A bobcat, fox, raccoon, squirrel, or rabbit in need of comfort will find your coat turned into a furry blanket that becomes a surrogate mother to these orphaned animals.

Photo from Coats for Cubs

This approach works better than a towel or blanket as the fur feels more like the animal’s own mother. Turning the sleeve of a fur coat inside out can create a warm nest for a burrowing animal. Some animals adopt a piece of fur as a playmate, jumping on it and wrestling with it.

Want to donate? Here’s how:

Place your fur in a sturdy box (a large padded envelope is fine for small items) and mail it to The HSUS at the following address:

The Humane Society of the United States
2100 L St., NW
Washington, D.C. 20037
Attn: Coats for Cubs

View more details on Coats for Cubs.

photo by moon angel, flickr

If you’ve ever been in the market for handmade or vintage art and gifts, you’ve probably run across Etsy. It’s a huge online marketplace for all things homemade, and they have quite the impressive selection. What they also have is Etsy Organic, a team uniting sellers of organic goods that promote an organic, sustainable lifestyle.

Look for the Etsy Organic Team tag to shop the eco-friendly, organic, and sustainable items for sale. This item was so ridiculously cute I had to include it:

organic babybe hat, Etsy.com

Want more? Check out the Etsy Organic Flickr group, the Etsy Earth blog, or their Twitter account @EtsyEarth.

[via planet green]

Photo by kwerfeldein, flickr

With summer in full swing and farmers markets happening nearly everyday, or at least every weekend, it’s fairly easy to find meat and dairy raised on local farms. Meat that is more humanely raised and more nutritious, where animals are grass-fed as nature intended. But what about during the other seasons?

Enter Eatwild.com, a directory of more than 1100 pasture-based farms. It’s a comprehensive source for finding grass-fed meat and dairy products near you. Producers listed in the directory have animals and land that are well-treated, and their products are free of antibiotics and added hormones. Many farms are organically certified; others lack certification but follow organic standards.

Click here to search by state at EatWild.com.

Looking for a farm or ranch near Chicago? Find it on the Eatwild Illinois map.