Capitol Adorns Christmas Tree with Marine Debris

It's that time of year when my kids and I turn the dining room table into a factory for small handmade gifts constructed from reused materials. We've done penguins, snowmen, and Santa ornaments from old burned out light bulbs, refrigerator magnets from bottle caps, and stationary (note cards, envelopes, and notebooks) from old calendars, magazines, and cardboard.

Just a few of our creations. Henry the Light Bulb Penguin (left) serves an "elf on the shelf" function for my kiddos.

So I was delighted to read that some of the ornaments on this year's Capitol Christmas tree in Washington, D.C. are made from reused materials--and better yet, they're made from plastic marine debris in order to highlight the ocean plastic pollution problem.

The Capitol tree comes from a national forest in a different state each year, and is decorated by residents from that state. In 2015, the tree is from Chugach National Forest in Alaska, and artist Bonnie Dillard was selected to create ornaments after submitting a prototype of a fish made from plastic waste reclaimed from the sea.

From http://www.capitolchristmastree.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/Dillard-template.pdf

According to Smithsonian.com, "Her trashy tree ornaments were constructed by Alaskan schoolchildren this summer from ocean refuse picked up along the Alaska coast by members of a preservation organization." Awesome! These ornaments not only represent an important part of Alaskan culture and economy (fishing), but also provided an important experiential learning opportunity for the students who made the ornaments and for everyone who views them. This is real plastic pollution from the shores of state that provided our tree--not photos of floating plastic with a lack of context that makes it easy for our minds to categorize them as part of the Mythic Land of Away. Bravo, Ms. Dillard, for helping us face the waste we generate and fail to dispose of properly.

Read the full story on Smithsonian.com. And to learn more about marine plastic pollution and what you can do about it, see http://www.plasticpollutioncoalition.org/ and http://www.5gyres.org/.

New Year's Re-Solutions

We're on the brink of a brand new year, but as we consider our resolutions, let's try to make the year one of the few "brand new" things we look forward to. Make some "re-solutions" instead of "resolutions" by resolving to reuse items and materials as much as possible in 2013. If you no longer have a use for something, donate it, sell it, or give it to a friend or relative who can benefit from it. Need something you don't already have? Look around at what you DO have and try to come up with a way to re-make your current under-used possessions into the "new" item that you need or want. If that turns out not to be possible, try to find what you're looking for at a thrift store, or online from a previous owner. Consider sharing items that you only use some of the time with friends and neighbors instead of owning something exclusively. Investigate how to recycle or donate most, if not all, of the items you might normally consider trash. There really are companies that will take just about anything--from old hole-ridden clothes, to used shoes, to your old furniture--I'll write about some of these options in the coming weeks and months. Try your hand at composting to turn even your food scraps into something new.

However you decide to approach the challenge, do your best to find as many ways to reuse in 2013 as possible. Our resources truly are precious; it can be so easy to forget that living in a privileged nation where most of us have want we need. Always remember that not all of us do in this world, and that if we do not value what we have been given, the day may come all too soon when resources that were once plenty are scarce. Show your gratitude for what we have by refusing to see any of it as waste. "Waste" is a failure of the imagination, a misnomer, a miscategorization. Be more imaginative in 2013. Seek out new friends, new experiences, new memories, new hopes, new dreams, new ways of looking at things, but not new things.

Peace, and Happy New Year! ~ Joy S.

Will You Green My Valentine?

Hey all, sorry it's been so long since I've posted to this blog. I've been preoccupied with the toddlers and other writing. But, I'm back to share with you a few products and tips that could green your Valentine's Day through reuse or recycling.

Recycled Elephant Poop Roses. A rose by any other name would smell as sweet...even if it's made out of recycled elephant dung. I've heard of The Great Elephant Poo Poo Paper Company before, but I just saw this link to their special Elephant Poo Paper Roses on Great Green Goods today. Made from a unique paper handmade from elephant poo (now that's a dirty job), these lovely flowers are odor free and sustainable. Check out the poo paper making process on the company's web site.

ABC News provides some simple tips for homemade Valentine's Gift items, including things made by reusing items you already have around the house.

Check out Etsy.com for unique, handmade cards and gifts to give to your sweetie. Many of the items on Etsy are made from reused/repurposed materials--try typing "reuse" into their site search box for a few examples. Type "valentines" into their search box for items that might be used to show your love. It's also worth noting that Etsy is partnering with Citymeals-on-Wheels this year for a project called Special Delivery. Folks could get involved by making cards to include with nutritious meals to be delivered to needy elderly New Yorkers. Unfortunately, the deadline has passed for making the cards and submitting them for this project, but I'm going to keep it in mind for next year, since I love to make cards and envelopes from reused materials.

It's too late to order cards for your kids to share at classroom Valentine's Day parties (sorry), but check out Stubby Pencil Studio's neat, color-your-own cards and consider bookmarking them for next year. Their cards feature cute black-and-white drawings on 100% recycled card stock that your little one can color before handing out to friends. While checking out their Valentine's cards, notice that they have cards for other occasions as well.

Read this article by Amber S. on Associated Content on How to Recycle and Reuse Your Valentines Day Candy Boxes.

For more green Valentine tips (not necessarily related to reuse) check out my "Be My Green Valentine" and "Red Roses, Green Hearts" posts from past years over on the GLRPPR Blog.

Reusing Baby Food Jars

My two kids are past the baby food stage, but I still have a collection of glass baby food jars that I like to reuse for making container candles. Cheers to Earth's Best Baby Food for holding a contest to collect people's ideas for how to reuse glass baby food jars. Check out their web site for the winning ideas. Ideas relevant to the holidays include the jar Christmas tree, hot cocoa holiday gift kit, and place cards for dinner parties.

Deck the Halls With Reused Materials

It's the holiday season, so for the next few weeks, I'll focus on reuse as it applies to our winter holiday celebrations. Have a look at the Wrap Art web site, which provides some unique suggestions for wrapping gifts using a variety of materials. Their "repurposing materials" section features some eye-catching packages wrapped up in bits of reused materials such as junk mail, calendar photos, a wine bottle mesh, foil and strings from shopping bags, and bits of ribbon among other things. It's nice to know that I'm not the only person who saves little bits of this and that in crow-like fashion just knowing that someday I'll find a nice way to reuse them. The "recycling commerce" section is cool too. I especially like the use of stickers found in junk mail (which I either give to my kids to play with or use to decorate my filing cabinet); I'm going to have to try that one!

It takes time and creativity to wrap your gift in a way like those displayed on the Wrap Art site, and that puts all the more "thought" into the "thought that counts." Even if the gift inside goes over like a lead balloon, the recipient will surely feel special if you put so much energy into presenting them with a one-of-a-kind package. And when you reuse materials before you recycle them, the Earth gets a gift too.