Ethletic olive green, low-top shoes by Autonomie Project at Eco Gift Expo
Originally uploaded by greenlagirl
plastic free shoes
Monthly Archives: December 2009
The Green Dot
The Green Dot is a symbol used on packaging in many European countries. It signifies that the producer of the packaging has made a contribution towards the recycling of packaging – however we do not use this system in the UK.
The Green Dot is not used as a compliance mark in the UK, but it is still a trademark. Anyone who produces packaging with a Green Dot, which is then sold in the UK, must pay a UK licence fee through Valpak Ltd.
Please be aware the Green Dot does NOT mean that the packaging can be recycled
Taken from recycle – more For more on this and other international packaging signs check thise site out.
marge free (so almost plastic free) chocolate cake
Let her eat plastic free cake – you can make this with your ( almost ) plastic free vegetable oil
English: Choc Rose Cake (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The alchemist’s chocolate cake
I’ve created this one for reader Peggy Lin, who wrote asking for more low-fat, low-sugar recipes. This chocolate cake still has a rich deep flavour, a delicate moist texture, but very little fat or refined sugar, and it’s quick to make. If you cut it into 10 slices it works out about 220 calories a serve, with only half the fat and a quarter of the carbs of a typical un-iced caked. Up the calories a little by serving it with a spoonful of low-fat crème fraîche and chocolate shavings.
One 415g tin pear halves in juice
75g cocoa powder
125g caster sugar
3 tsp vanilla extract
50ml walnut oil
1 large egg
225g plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
Drain the pears well, reserving the juice. Measure the cocoa, sugar and 125ml of the pear juice into a saucepan, madly whisk it all together and bring to the first ‘plop’ of a boil. Then spoon it with the pears into a mixing bowl and leave 15 minutes. Meanwhile line the bottom and sides of a 20cm round cake tin with non-stick baking paper and heat your oven to 170°C (fan 150°C). Spoon the chocolate, pears, vanilla and oil into a blender and puree until smoothly. Pour this back into the bowl then beat in the egg. Stir the flour and baking powder together, sift this into the bowl and beat well until smooth. Scrape the mixture into the cake tin and bake for 40 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean.
Find more plastic free recipes here
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Indian rope slipper trick
Bought these in Shimla. They have great rope soles but I am pretty sure the wool is man made fibre so these don’t really count more an example of what is possible
leather slippers
If you are still in India and near Jodhpur you can get some really cool leather slippers and sandals. These come in a huge range of styles from curley toed Ali Baba to simple mules. But the greatest recommendation of all is that they are all plastic free. These alone make it worth a visit.
Guest speaker
While rifling flickr for nasty plastic photos, (see my plastic visual world map for details), I come across people documenting and commenting on the ever increasing amounts of plastic pollution. Blogged from there is this weeks Guest Speaker _ I urge you to look at his other stuff
Pollution in playa Azul in Tarcoles. The river brings the pollution of the whole country in the Pacific Ocean that grows the 7th continent of garbage in the middle of the vortex flow close to Hawai.
Uploaded by ouroboros-team on 15 Sep 09, 1.21PM PST.
Garbage after Seastorm
Heres another nasty photo this time in the med.
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Acne Girl
I have long had the complexion of a teenager – all spots and grease. While in India this situation got a whole lot worse. In desperation I made myself a face wash out of apple cider vinegar. I normally use this to make a conditioning rinse for my hair so I figured that’s what’s good for the clogged up hair might work for the blogged pores. It works – it really does.
Here’s my recipe
2 parts Apple Vinegar
3 parts water
1 drop of lavender oil for every 2 ml water
Shake well before use.
You can buy apple vinegar in glass bottles from numerous shops. Sadly a lot have plastic caps but there you go or you could try making your own at home!
for more uses of this fantastic product try this article
Thanks to rchappo2002 for the great image check out her collection of 60s ads
Find more plastic free products with the >>>A-Z<<< plastic free index
plastic bags are good
Here’s a website to get you snorting… save the plastic bag ..which, yes you guessed it, is out to prove that plastic bags are harmless and much maligned.
He might want to visit adopt a beach and check out the following reports….
“Plastic bags have been found in stomachs of the following marine species. several of which are classified as endangered*: *Green turtle (Uchida. 1990; Balazs 1985; Meylan 1978) *Loggerhead turtle (Plotkin and Amos 1990; Bjorndal and Bolten. 1994) *Hawksbill turtle (Teas and Witzell. 1994; Hartog 1980) *Leatherback turtle (Balazs. 1985; Sadove and Morreale. 1990) *Black footed Albatross (Sileo et al 1990) Northern Fulmar (van Franeker. 1985. 2003. 2005) Herring Gull Great Black-backed Gull (Day et al. 1985) *Harbour Porpoise (Walker and Coe. 1990) Common Dolphin. Bottlenose Dolphin. Risso’s Dolphin. Northern Right Whale (Walker and Coe. 1990) Pygmy Sperm Whale (Tarpley. 1990) Blackfin tuna (Manooch and Mason. 1983).
In April 2002 a dead Minke whale washed up on the Normandy coast. An investigation found its stomach contained 800g of plastic bags and packaging including two English supermarket plastic bags (GECC. 2002).
Or this on turtles …
Turtles. particularly leatherback turtles; the most commonly seen turtles in UK waters. are especially at risk from plastic bag ingestion. as these bags. especially white or clear shopping bags closely resemble jellyfish. their primary prey. when suspended in the water column.
Plastic bags along with sheeting and plastic pieces are the predominant synthetic items found in the stomachs of turtles. An autopsy of a dead leatherback turtle washed up in Scotland in December 1994 reported that it had died as a result of starvation. caused by primary obstruction of the digestive tract by ingested plastic and metal litter. There was also a plastic bag lodged 40cm down the oesophagus (Godley et al. 1998).
A leatherback. washed ashore in Galloway in December 1998. was found in very poor condition with plastic bags obstructing its alimentary tract. The blockage included 1 white plastic bag. 1 black plastic bin liner. 3 transparent plastic bags. 1 green plastic bag. and 1 transparent plastic bag for chicken meat packaged by a US company.
Another leatherback found dead on Harlech beach in Wales in September 1988 had a piece of plastic blocking the entrance to the small intestine. and an autopsy established this could have contributed to the animal’s death (Eckert and Luginbuhl. 1988).
A study of dead stranded sea turtles on the coast of Brazil from 1997 to 1998 found the main items ingested were plastic bags. Of the 30 green turtles examined. white/transparent plastic bags were recorded in 14 (47%) of the green turtles found. Ingestion of anthropogenic debris accounted for the death of 4 (13.2%) of the green turtles examined (Bugoni et al. 2001).
Or this on whales
The Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust took various skin and blubber samples and removed the stomach for further study by the Scottish Agricultural College. On initial removal it was found that the entrance to the stomach was completely blocked with a cylinder of tightly packed shredded black plastic binliner bags and fishing twine.
It is believed that this made it difficult for the animal to forage and feed effectively. This would have a biologically significant impact on the animal’s ability to survive. Full analysis of the stomach contents is currently being undertaken. Cuviers Beaked whales usually prey on squid and catch their prey through the action of suction. It is believed that Cuviers Beaked whales mistake plastic bags in the water column for their prey species squid and ingest them.
In previous years a number of Cuviers Beaked whales stranded in Scotland have been found to have plastic bags in their stomachs. For any more details on this case please contact the Hebridean Whale and Dolphin Trust at 28 Main Street. Tobermory. Isle of Mull. Scotland. PA75 6NU. 01688 302620. email info@hwdt.org”
or this on elephants
or this on camels
Scrap Cider Vinegar
Photo by AlyssssylA
You know how I love apple vinegar for a hair rinse and other stuff? Well here’s how you can make it home!
Cook more plastic free food with the plastic free cook book here.
Find out more about plastic, the boycott and us here
Cook more plastic free food with the plastic free cook book here.
Find more plastic free products with the >>>A-Z<<< plastic free index.
