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While environmental toxins are a concern for all of us, babies, toddlers and children are especially vulnerable to the damaging effects. As parents, we don’t always know when things in our everyday environment may expose our kids to potential harm. Photo Credit: Prospectpark.org The Coop’s Environmental Committee has compiled the information below to help you protect your family’s health. Protecting kids from sunburn is really important but choose sunscreens without oxybenzone or retinyl palmitate. The first gets into the bloodstream and acts like estrogen in the body; the latter promotes skin tumors. Sunscreens with zinc oxide and/or titanium dioxide are considered safe. >> Sun Screen Guide The American Academy of Pediatrics warns that children are uniquely susceptibility to pesticides’ toxicity . If you cannot buy all-organic produce, consult the EWG’s “ dirty dozen ” and “ c lean 15 ” lists , which are revised every year, to make smart choices about which kinds of produce are ...

New York City has some of the best water in the country but we can’t afford to take it for granted. Rather than sending toxic chemicals down the drain, use non-hazardous alternatives like lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda and plant oils for household cleaning, or buy nontoxic cleaning products from the coop.  Prescription and non-prescription drugs are released into the environment when flushed down toilets and sinks. Water from the Croton watershed, which supplies New York City with drinking water, contains detectable levels of pharmaceuticals. To find out how to dispose of drugs without polluting our water, visit www.Riverkeeper.org Nobody wants bugs devouring their butternut squash, beetles killing their roses or poison ivy savaging their skin. That said, Roundup and similar pesticides poison our soil, water and air – while supporting the world’s worst agribusinesses. Plant pest-resistant, native species and hand pull weeds. Think of it as exercise!

Hello Coop Members and Friends of The Environmental Committee,  Those in support of TerraCycle please make an effort to go to the GM on MAY 30th and vote in favor on continuing this project.  Here is the wording of the proposal to be voted on.  Given the success, popularity, and continued requests for the plastic film collection we are making the following VOTE PROPOSAL: —Establish a baseline annual budget of $5000 to continue an ongoing TerraCycle Fee Based Zero Waste Plastic Film collection with a caveat of up to an additional $1500 in  bridge money as approved by the General Coordinators dependent on growth of the collection.  —Any permanent increase in the yearly budget will be taken up with the membership as needed given use, demand, and/or expansion of the Plastic Film collection. *Please Make Note: Schedule Of Collection Change: the Saturday May 27th TerraCycle collection has been moved up to Saturday the 20th due to the Memorial Day weekend.  ...

Hello and Welcome to the Environmental Committee Blog.  It's spring time and EARTH DAY is approaching.  Due to the emergency nature of U.S. threats to the world’s efforts to reduce climate change, rather than do educational tabling for Earth Day, this year the Coop Environmental Committee is joining the “Stop Climate Change” rally in New York and asking all interested Coop members to stand with us behind the Environmental Committee banner. If you would like to be part of our presence at the Earth Day Climate Change Rally, please meet us in front of the Coop at 11:15 on Saturday, April 22 so we can travel together to Folly Square.

Happy New Year! It's 2017 and time to look at how we can make our shopping trips more Eco friendly to the planet. From the "Form Healthy Habits" website :  Opt for Reusable Products Reusable products are less likely to end up in landfills, reducing your impact on the environment. Plus, despite their upfront cost being slightly higher, this type of product will save you money in the long-run. Ditch the paper plates, plastic cups, and disposable grocery bags and opt for reusable items instead. Look for Recyclable Packaging    You can, of course, make your shopping trips greener by looking for products packaged in recyclable or reusable packages. As far as recycling goes, take a look at the packages you are buying and look for the “recyclable” icons on the plastic or can– then make sure you actually remember to recycle when you're finished with the product. In terms of reuse, glass jars and plastic containers can be used to store buttons, craft supplies, and ...

Hello Coop Members! Environmental Committee's Tip of the Month:  Try Non-Toxic Cleaning Products Combine baking soda and vinegar for kitchen and bathroom cleaning.   Vinegar alone is great for cleaning glass windows and mirrors, as well as for getting cat odors out of fabric, wood floors or anything else. Go online for tons of tips on cheap, nontoxic cleaning.

The TerraCycle Collection is expanding and needs YOUR help! We currently have two work shifts, which fall on the second Wednesday of the month from 3:30 to 6:30p.m., and the fourth Saturday of the month 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. If these shift times do not work for you to become a squad member, we still want to hear from you as we are very interested in adding new collection times . Dedicated FTOP workers are also welcome. If you can be on a shift more times than not, we would definitely welcome you on shifts as much as you can schedule with us. Info about the shift: *Shifts are very stable, 12 shifts per year, no moving around the calendar based on work week A, B, C. or D. Shifts are set for a particular day/time of the month and do not change. *Enjoy working your shift with like-minded environmentally conscious Coop members, members you work with and members who drop off their recyclables. *This shift is a very feel good shift knowing you are making a difference and helping members to make a...

Where: Outside of the Coop except during inclement weather when collection will be held inside the Coop Times: 2nd Wednesday of the month 3:45-6pm 4th Saturday of the month 1:45-4pm (Please try to come at least 15 minutes before the end of the shift.) New expanded plastic collection for Coop members only!  Please be ready to show your membership card.  New items collected: Plastic bags/wrapping/packaging from most Coop items (both food and non food items.) Plastic roll bags distributed by the Coop. Thin plastic film wrapping from items such as cheese, meat, toilet paper, tea boxes etc.  NO foil backed packaging is accepted at the moment. The regular TerraCycle collection is still available to Coop and non-Coop members! Ongoing community collection items: Toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes, any brand and size. Baby food pouches and caps, any brand Energy bar wrappers (any brand but only energy bars) Brita and other similar water filters Plastic food storage zip loc bags, cl...

Photo credit: Jenna Spevack With the recent roll bag vote and the expanded TerraCycle collections happening at the Coop, plastic has had increased visibility among Coop members.  However, there’s one area where plastic chemicals are ubiquitously present yet mostly unseen within the walls of 782 Union. Where? Actually inside our food and then ultimately in our bodies.  To understand how plastic chemicals end up food and then in people, a basic lesson in polymer chemistry is needed.  Simplified, plastics are made up of long chains of plasticizer chemicals (a monomer is a plastic compound, which when strung together make up polymers that form the building blocks of plastic.)  Plastics of course have a wide variety of uses.  From hard, colored plastic to flexible, transparent cling film and other types of food packaging, plastics have brought a certain ease to many us living a modern life. Unfortunately popular plastic chemicals share two characteristics that’s a pr...

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It’s very difficult to eat or drink these days without ingesting plastic, which comes into contact with nearly all commercially sold foods. Cardboard milk containers and cans of peas are coated with plastic; it is sprayed on produce to preserve freshness and used to irrigate, mulch, wrap and transport fruits and vegetables. Since the 1950s, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has known that plastic “migrates” into the food and drinks it comes in contact with. In fact, until 2002 “food grade” plastic was classified by the FDA as an “indirect food additive.” And since the 1990s, when scientists worldwide began monitoring urinary concentrations of environmental chemicals, it’s been known that virtually all of us have chemicals in our blood and tissue that migrated from plastic food wrap, bags, packaging and bottles.  As was covered in a Gazette Coop Environmental Committee Report last year, these chemicals are known endocrine disrupters that are linked to health risks ranging from ...

Upcoming Vote for Zero Waste Fee-Based Plastic Packaging Collection When:  April 26th, Tuesday night, 7pm General Meeting Where:  St. Francis Xavier School, 763 President Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues What:  Phase II of the TerraCycle collection will allow for collection of a very broad array of plastic packaging waste from products sold at the coop.  This waste will be upcycled and repurposed to create long lasting useful items (e.g., decking and fencing, planting barrels, garbage cans, etc.) This vote is for a year long trial which will allow for a full assessment of use and participation.  It should be noted, the Coop is under no contractual obligation with this program. We can discontinue the trial at anytime, if needed. How : In addition to our current participation in 6 free brigades (small bulk bags, food storage bags, cling wrap; Brita filters; baby food pouches; toothbrushes and toothpaste tubes; cereal bag liners; and energy bar wrappers), if ap...

The Environmental Committee is promoting a new partnership between the PSFC and TerraCycle , an innovative recycling company that transforms hard to recycle waste into new products- keeping more waste out of landfills. WHEN: Wednesday April 13th from 4-6pm. Saturday April 23rd from 2-4pm. WHERE: In front of the Coop or inside if the weather is frigid. WHAT *Please presort and separate items by category *No need to clean or remove labels *Please do not bring any other items than those listed: Toothpaste tubes, any brand and size (toothbrushes okay too) Baby food pouches and caps (any brand) Energy bar wrappers (any brand but only energy bars—no other wrappers please) Brita filters (other filter brands okay) plus other Brita filter related items Plastic food storage zip lock bags (any size), plastic cling wrap, and small bulk bags (Please no plastic roll bags or shopping bags) Cereal bag and cracker bag liners or bulk cereal bags (any brand) UPCOMING VOTE: Tuesday, April 26, 7:00 p.m. M...

Have you heard of the Adirondack park? Spent time there to appreciate it's majestic beauty? It's a six-million-acre National treasure. The Adirondack Park includes New York's Forest Preserve in Upstate New York. Unlike most preserves, about 52 per cent of the land is privately-owned. The Nature Conservancy bought a piece of this land (called Boreas Ponds) from a timber company, and now NY STATE is going to buy the land for the public – you and me! Right now the park's coalition is working with the governor on the protection details for this piece of land. (Bottom line – motors or no motors.) Governor Cuomo has an historic opportunity to create a world-renowned, spectacular motor-free area covering more than 280,000-contiguous acres in the heart of the Adirondack Park. The Governor needs to hear from thousands of people like you who want to protect our Adirondack legacy and support Wilderness. CLICK HERE AND Please sign the petition today!  And Click here to l...