Hilary

Elisa

Becca

"With the power to recycle comes great responsibility."-Peter Parker (well, kind of). During the evolution of my recycling/composting know-how, I'm afraid I've unwittingly chucked at least a spoon or two in the wrong bin. Understanding the diff between what you can recycle, what you can compost, and what you have to trash is tricky, and doing it the wrong way can really throw a noncompostable fork into the works.

So practice. And there's no better place to practice than at work, where you at least occasionally eat takeout and deal with the detritus that comes with it (even if you do only take one napkin).

What's more, there's nothing like proper disposal to bring a team together. And it's OK to start small.

Just look at our eco-friends at WorldTeach (see photo), who started separating color paper from white paper after finding out the building's program recycles only white - they take the color stuff to a separate facility. They also bundle up to minimize energy use (instead of cranking the heat), avoid drinking from individual plastic water bottles...and, um, apparently shop at Trader Joe's. We're just plain proud to know ya.

-Jenifer Morgan...off to properly dispose of some email...

In college, a certain person I know (and I won't be naming names here, but I'm guessing she'll blush as she reads this blog) used to switch the stickers on fruits and veggies, paying conventional prices for organic produce. And while I never joined in, I definitely enjoyed the fruits of her labor. Here I state for the record: I do not condone this behavior, but I am amused by it. Ditto that for my belly.

-SF Editor Hanah...off to maximize Orson's happy hour in celebration of Hilary's much anticipated arrival...

In honor of the Seattle Bite's first-week anniversary, here's a bit about our newest member of the team, Seattle Bite Editor Jen Harper:

How Jen heard about Ideal Bite: "It was actually during one of my plane trips to sunnier spots (Desert Hot Springs, CA, to be exact) during dreary December. I grabbed a Domino magazine at the airport, and it had a little profile of Jen Boulden and Ideal Bite - I was totally hooked."

Jen's eco-confession: Jen loves to fly to sunny places, especially during Seattle's long, gray season, which lasts about eight months. (Says Jen: "I was totally fretting when yesterday's Seattle tip ran about ways to color your world when it's all gray outside. It's been weirdly, unseasonably sunny lately - global warming at work? According to the weatherperson, the gray's supposed to roll in starting Wednesday...") But she just sold her Volkswagen Beetle, so when it comes to traveling around town, she buses, walks, and bikes to coffee shops, restaurants, and the acupuncturist. She also makes a habit of toting her aluminum SIGG water bottle wherever she goes to avoid falling into the plastic water bottle trap.

Jen's fave eco-hangout: "Julep Nail Parlor, for their awesome pedicures with phthalate-free polishes and paraben-free lotions."

A Face Only a Mom Could Love

I got on the Bare Escentuals bandwagon thanks to my mom. The woman has flawless skin (she's often mistaken for my sister, which amuses her to no end). She showed up at my apartment one day, glowing per usual, while I was having a bad case of redness. I asked her about her latest secret (growing up she always went high end on skin care and scrimped on other things, like TP). We went and picked up the BE starter kit and she showed me how it works (a little goes a really long way) - you can sleep in it too, which I do when I'm too lazy to wash up (uh, every Friday night).

-Senior Editor Theresa...off to email my mom, who finally splurged on a computer this month...

A few months ago, I cleared out my bathroom cupboard, unearthing some crazy precautionary anti-malaria-typhoid-god-knows-what horse pills I got before traveling to India, an inhaler from the Bronze Age, and a few expired antihistamines.

So I went to my pharmacist and asked if they'd dispose of them - no, they didn't, was the first answer, so I asked if they knew of an outside service - they thought they might actually have a program but the guy who knew about it wasn't around. A few weeks later, I tried again - no info was again the first answer, then the clerk thought about it, asked a few other people, and at long last, produced a URL for me to find locations in SF.

Yes, an online search would have yielded the same info, but I'm wondering how many pharmacy clerks out there simply aren't aware that there are programs that take back meds - and I don't know if I've ever seen it advertised anywhere near a register.

So in terms of small changes, by asking (three times), I ended up informing five people, including myself, about the safe disposal of meds. I also found a place practically next door that'll take it all - and I'll let the pharmacists know next time I go in so they can share it with others.

-Jenifer Morgan...off to gift a few boxes of Band-Aids...

News flash: The economy's in the dumper. It's times like these that you wanna put your money somewhere low-risk, and in spite of my lack of a degree in finance, I'd like to suggest a certificate of deposit (CD) with a green bank.

I recently funneled some funds into CDs with New Resources and HSBC. If you've been reading your tips, you might know New Resources as maybe the greenest bank in the nation, but HSBC's greenness was news to me. Turns out it's ranked first when it comes to climate change among big banks (as ranked by Ceres, which is this well-respected organization for responsible investors). It also offers a green credit card touted by Leonardo DiCaprio.

As of today, HSBC has a 4% APY CD deal - you give them your money for 6 months, and at the end of that, you get it back, plus about 2%. Easy.

-Toshio...off to spend my interest...

PS: Adam at NeighBorrow (a site that connects neighbors who wanna lend each other stuff) dropped us one about a new contest that could stuff your wallet. Deets are here.

We recently began composting in the SF Biter office, which seems like a very big duh. I won't lie - I kinda get off on meticulous trash separation...

A small change around the office that I'm happy to see, but didn't foresee? Composting bins in the restrooms. Sure, hand dryers would be optimal, but not everyone has those, and not everyone's wiping their wet palms on their pants, either. To help cut into the 3,000 tons of paper towel waste we generate in the United States each day, see if you can get your office/gym/bar to put in a composting bin alongside the trash can.

-SF Editor Hanah...off to shake it at Rickshaw Stop to help raise money for Alemany Farms...

Yeah, my dad lets the Halloween pumpkins rot in the front yard. "They'll grow new pumpkins next year, Hanah." (Hasn't happened once.) But that's old news.

New news: The great pumpkin tree. Pumpkins don't grow on trees? Oh yes, they do. Papa Snavely has rigged a pumpkin vine up and around a young juniper tree in our front yard, so now two live lil' orange pumpkins rest on a juniper branch, seemingly growing from it. A pumpkin tree. And people are amazed by this - I mean, really impressed. They pass by on the street, stop, look closer, poke, poke again, rustle a branch, and eventually walk away slowly, usually shaking their heads, bewildered. They want to believe...

-SF Editor Hanah...off to appreciate autumn in SF, for various reasons, one of them being the photo above...

Part of my two-bag-limit move to the West Coast included two towels: one, an apartment-warming gift from a friend, and the other I "borrowed" from my mom years ago - it now looks like a pack of wild dogs got at it (coverage? Not so much). This weekend I broke down and bought a couple fluffy, driftwood-hued Haven Hotel organic towels from Macy's. They're actually supersoft (the word on organic terry is usually not so) and I felt all cozy coming out of this morning's shower - despite the autumn chill on my nonradiant floor.

-Senior Editor Theresa...off to pick up a pair of organic slippers...

I'm no germaphobe, but even if you wear gloves, pull your shirt over your hands, or somehow manage to sit down before the bus moves and use your pants as a buffer, you still kinda have to make contact with...whatever...when you take those things off. Still gotta wash your hands.

Fellow publicly transported people, we're all in this together: Can ya just shower already, make sure you're not leaking anything, and stay at home if you're sick? Pretty please?

-Jenifer Morgan...off to lather up...

I'm obsessed with using every last drop of toothpaste, shampoo, and other creamy stuff. But there's one bottle of lotion that tortures me daily. It gave me a horrible rash on my hand, so I'll never use it again but I can't bring myself to toss it or pawn it off on a friend (that would be mean). So today I found these tips online: use it on keys that stick (huh?), add sugar for a shower scrub (because a rash all over my body would be great), or rub it into leather (done).

PS: Your unfavorite conditioner makes an awesome shaving cream.

-Senior Editor Theresa...off to give her fave five-year-old boots a good rub...

For the dishwasher-less folks (pretty much nobody in SF has a dishwasher - at least not that I know) who are really dead set on drying dishes as fast as possible, a friend of mine swears by this little tip. If you're cooking with the oven, close it up when you're done. Eat. Then wash the dishes and toss them in the still semiwarm oven.

Just don't throw your Tupperware in there soon after you've broiled a pot roast unless you're hoping to fill your apartment with toxic fumes and/or create an excuse to replace your set of dishes.

-Senior Editor Mike...off to buy more sponges...

Over the past year, I've eaten out for lunch at least four of five days per week. And yes, that's completely ridiculous. It's not so much that I've actually spent tons more (a box of crackers, apple, and string cheese from Whole Foods pretty much = a panini and soup at the local café), it's other things.

1. I am sooooo sick of the panini and soup combo at the local café. I can barely type the words.
2. Nutrition? What? Cheese and pesto panini means getting (more than) my daily serving of salt and "bad" fats in one go - and I've got buttons about to pop off my waistband to prove it.
3. I'm not spending those 5 minutes waiting in line reading Proust - there goes my life, staring at backs of heads and a menu I could recite line by line, blindfolded.
4. Sure, I compost most of the packaging, but I'm still putting plastic coffee tops and the odd fork into the trash. Nuh-uh.
   

So, yeah, I've been making a lot of lasagna lately - you can freeze it if you need to, and it's easy to portion out. If you've got ideas for great to-go dishes, hand 'em over in the blog!

-Jenifer Morgan...off to reinforce a button or two...

5-minute Smoothie Recipe From the Other Jen

This one is short and sweet, just like my lunch:

Ingredients: bag of frozen fruit, organic orange juice, Spirutein, and a big container of Stonyfield vanilla yogurt.

1. Fill the blender with a beer mug's worth of fruit.
2. Pour in organic orange juice (I use Horizon) to right above the berries.
3. Pour in some of the yogurt - about 2 blops. (As you can probably tell, I am not a fan of measuring and I am really not a fan of all the cleanup for the measuring cups.)
4. Lastly, one scoop of Spirutein. Let 'er rip. Oh, don't run the blender for more than a minute. These things were only made for short bursts.
5. Enjoy your very creamy, nutritious, protein packed lunch.

The bulk bins are a wonderful thing. I'm big on snacking, so they're key for munchies that aren't brutally unhealthy. So far today (it's 11 a.m. as I write this) I've eaten oatmeal, dried tropical fruit mix, and tamari almonds - all from the bins at the Whole Foods a couple blocks from our office. Another fave: those little honey-sesame candy things. So good.

Just so Toshio doesn't feel alone, I'll also cop to sneaking a little bite from the bins here and there, but these days, I try to limit it to trying things I've never had before. That seems totally reasonable to me. Anyone else out there wanna fess up? Feels good to get it off your chest, people...

-Senior Editor Mike...off to "sample" some organic gummy bears...

Heather got up at the crack of dawn last Thursday to drop a couple tips on getting better gas mileage. See her in action on Good Morning America.

-Toshio...off to buy a bike helmet...

A few of the dorms at the college I went to, Reed, had radiant flooring. Since they were widely regarded as the ugliest residence halls on campus, installing dormwide foot warming was the least the college could do.

During my junior year, I dated a freshman who lived there (which I guess made me borderline one of those creepy upperclassmen who dates the "fresh meat"), so I did get to enjoy the underfloor heat that winter - but the thing I most remember that particular dorm for was as the setting of one of the first college parties I went to, and the gratuitous two-story bong (not for beer) that hung from the top of the building that night.

-Toshio...off to find an apple...

Today, after a halfhearted attempt to joke around the issue of oils (coconut, flax, hemp, what have you), I defer to an editorial written by Vanity Fair contributor Christopher Hitchins on why women are not funny. I found it hysterical.

-SF Editor Hanah...off to laugh at my own jokes...

As someone consumed by all of the wonderful nuances of the English language, I tend to favor a great many colorful terms in my everyday vocabulary.

Which means I say words like @#%!, &@$%, and #*%!@ quite often.

My mom was definitely not OK with that when I was a kid. During those occasions whereupon a bar of soap was crammed into my mouth (there were at least three), I was told that the next time "It'll be liquid." Bar soap was unpleasant, yes, but nothing like I imagined liquid soap, the nuclear option of soap mouth washing, would be. So I hit pause on the swearing.

Since Mother Earth clearly disapproves of liquid cleanser - a huge deterrent to childhood cursing - there is only one rational thing to take away from this: The environment likes dirty words. You heard it here first.

-Senior Editor Mike...off to $%^@, &%#$!, and maybe even &*$@...

When I move to a new pad this month, one of the only things coming with me is my mattress. Having lived in 14 apartments since college, I've learned to travel light - for years, I slept on subletted or previously owned mattresses with little thought paid to the ick factor (a pal: "you obviously never had bedbugs") and resold them when I moved across country - thrice. Mattress swapping, I'm all for it.

Plus, a thick organic pad will at least make you think you won't catch the cooties. Now that I'm all grown up tho', this new pillow top's a keeper.

-Senior Editor Theresa...off to trampoline-jump on her all-cushy mattress...

So here's the thing about leaves making mulch: It doesn't work on lawns.

In college, my roomies and I were too laz...uh, concerned about the health of our lawn to rake the leaves off of it. We figured the resulting mulch would fertilize it over the winter, and maybe even protect it from freezing.

Turns out a layer of leaves can suffocate some grasses and block needed sunlight in the fall, resulting in a brown, dead lawn come spring. It can also get you letters from your landlord saying that routine landscaping is part of the lease and if you don't do it within 30 days, you'll be evicted.

-Senior Editor Mike...off to be thankful I've got no lawn these days...

Green energy's become a national issue that utilities can't avoid (in case you didn't see the prez debates last Friday, the words "alternative energy" were spoken more than a few times), but it doesn't hurt to press the issue a little more.

The We Can Solve It campaign has more tools for getting your power company's attention.

-Toshio...off to power up with an energy drink...

To Whom It May Concern,

I recently learned about green power through an Ideal Bite Daily Tip. Some energy providers offer options such as solar and wind power to their subscribers. My question to you is, do you have plans to make these kinds of options available locally?

You're probably aware that conventional power plants (such as coal) are responsible for more air pollution than any other source in the United States. An EPA study concluded that 22,000 deaths could be prevented each year if more utilities took advantage of available new technologies in place of coal.

From a financial standpoint, it seems like it would make sense for utility companies as well - just consider that some of the nation's largest companies (like FedEx Kinko's, HSBC Bank, and Kohl's) are already purchasing green power. More businesses (and residential customers like me) are sure to follow.

Please let me know if plans are in the works!

Eagerly awaiting your response,

[Your John Hancock]

Living in SF without a car is a grocery game-changer. Food consumption has become less about the amount that I can eat in a week, and more about precalculating the weight under which my arms will buckle on the walk home from Rainbow.

This is where I give a shout-out to the neighborhood market: thank you, Nabilas, and all of your small, sister SF groceries who have changed the way I interact with the urban environment, and subsidize my monthly grocery schlep. I honor the extra $4 I spend on local cheese at you, I celebrate the double-priced heirloom tomatoes you offer, and I gleefully hand over the extra $1.50 you want in exchange for my Visa use at your counter. It's worth it, and I salute you.  

-SF Editor Hanah...off to sip VeeV and stalk Adrian Grenier at the 100 Million Trees Party to Stop Junk Mail...