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Did you see Yuko Uchikawa's member contribution on page 5 of the the May 30th Gazette? We were so happy to see Yuko and her family sharing their tips for shopping with reusable bags! Please share your "recipes for a healthy planet" too!

This chart, published by Cornucopia Institute, contains interesting information.  One can quickly recognize the logos of familiar companies which supported or fought Proposition 37, a California proposition to label GMO-containing foods.  This proposition was voted down in the recent election. We may choose to buy foods from companies who support truth in labeling about GMOs in foods and to make note of which companies were in favor of hiding GMO ingredients. The Coop has been encouraging us to recognize GMO-containing foods for some time now. To view the larger version of this chart, click on the image above or download the PDF . For information on the PSFC GMO Shelf Labeling Committee, please scroll down to Other PSFC Committees on the right and click on their committee name, or click here:  GMO Shelf Labeling.

If you're looking to do some hurrican repairs or more general building/remodeling, consider Build It Green as a source of materials. Build It Green! NYC, is New York City's only non-profit retail outlet for salvaged and surplus building materials. Their warehouse has everything from panel doors to high end refrigerators and shutters to movie props. Their mission is to keep these materials out of the landfill, while offering deep discounts on their resale. The have over 75 tons of materials on sale at half or below their new prices such as doors, flooring, sinks, bathtubs and toilets, lighting, windows, trim, moulding,cabinets, furniture and much, much more... Gowanus Center Temporarily CLOSED due to storm damage You can volunteer at BIG!NYC-Gowanus for Hurricane Sandy Clean-Up, This Thursday & Saturday from 10am to 5pm! 69 9th St. Brooklyn, NY 718-725-8925 gowanus@bignyc.org Astoria Center OPEN 3-17 26th Ave. Queens, NY 718-777-0132 astoria@bignyc.org Open Every Day: ...

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...

I wish I had come up with this great title, but I didn't. It's actually from an article on Mother Nature Network , which caught my eye, because I am interested in living ecologically as well as inexpensively and was glad to see an article about those aims often being one and the same. You can read their six basic tips for yourself (and I'm sure Coop readers will be able to come up with many more), but I want to discuss one in particular, #4: Ditch the Disposables . It makes sense that anything you use once and then throw away would not be a sustainable choice, yet how many of us think of it as a poor economic choice as well? We'll list a few disposables we can do without and invite readers to add more suggestions of their own: Paper plates, plastic knives and forks : Even if you don't use these at home, you may be seeing them in the workplace. If so, can you convince the powers-that-be at you place of work to ditch the disposables and stock up with some reusable ...

According to Ecocycle.org, Americans use 500 million straws each day —enough disposable straws to fill over 46,400 large school buses per year. In February 2011, Milo (then 9 years old) founded the Be Straw-Free project , to work together with members of the straw industry, restaurants and other businesses, schools, environmental groups and concerned citizens to reduce the use and waste of disposable plastic straws. There are reusable options, such as the stainless steels straws sold by Reusit.This is something we can all try —it will make a difference!

Sometimes you just need a cup of coffee or iced tea while out and about. But you can do it in a more sustainable way by using a reusable coffee cup. Fact: Americans throw away about 25 billion foam coffee cups a year. Many places will pour your coffee or ice drink into a reusable container if you ask. Smartplanet , Reusit and Starbucks make reusable coffee containers. Many of these products are BPA-free and therefore healthier to use. You can have your coffee on the go and be sustainable too!

A big victory for the Non-GMO movement is occurring at the Coop! Starting on November 16, the GMO Shelf Labeling Committee will install on-shelf labeling of Non-GMO Project certified products. For those new to the issue: we basically don't know the long term effects of products containing genetically modified ingredients (GMOs) and would like food to be labelled so we can decide whether or not we want to chance eating these ingredients. The US government and the NYS government have so far resisted requests by consumers to force manufacturers to indicate on the label whether or not the product contains GMOs. The European Union established labelling laws in 2004. Australia, Japan, Brazil, and China have mandatory labelling laws as well. The Food Coop's GMO Shelf Labelling Committee wants to create labels inside the coop, so shoppers can have that information. Beginning November 16th, you will be seeing a 3/8 inch green dot saying "Non GMO" on the shelf label for...

At last! The search is over. Here's a cat litter that’s non-toxic, affordable, and actually works-- and it’s not packaged in plastic. Beth Ann’s Finest All Natural Cat Litter, which is sold in a compostable brown paper bag, is made from 100% biodegradable, non-GMO corn, from Iowa family farms. If you'd like the Coop to carry Beth Ann's Finest All Natural Cat Litter , add a request to the product request book at the Entrance Desk. You can also order it directly from Beth Ann or pick it up from NYC Pet on 5th Avenue. * Originally published on Plastic Albatross .