clair098

We’re always curious about how other food coops work. One of our committee members recently visited the People’s Food Coop in Ann Arbor, Michigan and took some photos. Established in 1971, the People’s Food Coop (PFC) is almost as old as our own PSFC. The idea for the co-op actually began as a graduate student project. Two students started a buying club as a way for low-income people to get fresh, healthy food. They brought food from the Eastern Market in Detroit and divided it into bags costing $5/week. In 1975 a second PFC location opened, followed by the opening of Wildflour Baking Collective, People’s Produce Co-op, and the Ann Arbor Tofu Collective in 1976, and the People’s Herb and Spice Co-op in summer of 1978, all on the same block. Later these various factions consolidated and grew to an over 6,500 member co-op. We were especially interested in how the PFC handled bulk items, as that is the most ecological and economical way to sell food. The PFC has a system which allows me...

Earth911.com explains how you can reduce your use of aluminum foil and plastic wrap with replaceable options. For instance, did you know you could use a reusable parchment baking mat to bake cookies? Or a reusable mesh crisper for to cook on your oven rack? Or a thermal food wrap to keep cooked food warm and cover? These and other ideas are detailed in their great feature . Why reduce your use of foil and plastic wrap in the first place? In short, because we use a whole lot if it, and it's often difficult to recycle. More than 1.3 billion pounds of aluminum foil is produced in the U.S annually. If that doesn't make your head spin, we also use enough plastic wrap every year to shrink-wrap the entire state of Texas. Aluminum foil is technically 100 percent recyclable. The trouble is that once it's used, your foil is often too soiled with food residue to be recycled without compromising quality - making cutting back on foil when possible even more important. Like foil, ...

Nicholas Kristof's column in the 10/7/12 New York Times talked about The Cancer Lobby . He asks us to: Just consider formaldehyde, which is found in everything from nail polish to kitchen countertops, fabric softeners to carpets. Largely because of its use in building materials, we breathe formaldehyde fumes when we’re inside our homes. Just one other fact you should know: According to government scientists, it causes cancer. and then goes on to say: The [chemical] industry’s strategy is to lobby Congress to cut off money for the Report on Carcinogens, a 500-page consensus document published every two years by the National Institutes of Health, containing the best information about what agents cause cancer. If that sounds like shooting the messenger, well, it is. The article is well worth reading in it's entirety, but at this point we'll pause to look at which products do contain formaldehyde.,br. The Environmental Working Group provides a list of household cleaning p...

My apartment didn't really seem expensive.  (I live in Sunset Park.  Rents are quite a bit more reasonable than Park Slope).  Utilities didn't amount to all that much.  BUT, after realizing that I wasn't using water then RE-using water, I decided to catch most of the greywater I make and see what happened.  The results have been astonishing.  And pretty darned easy!  And I've saved money and I've saved fresh water. What is greywater?  All the water which I use then let go down the drain.  That's grey water.   I suppose it's called grey because it's not drinkable after using it - so it's not necessarily clear.  That is, dishwater, for one.  That's a big one.  Then there's the water I can catch easily when I'm washing my hands, taking a shower, etc.  That's the idea. Here are the kitchen/bathroom buckets ready to be filled from the standard dishpan in the kitchen sink.  And in the bathroom, the full bucket is...