Change The World Wednesday

Welcome! If you are new to our challenges, please click HERE.

Let's jump right into a new challenge, shall we? Here it is:

This week only use reusable mugs/glasses. Yep ... for seven whole days, refuse anything that isn't reusable. Bring your own mug to your favorite coffee shop ... haul your own glass to the soda dispenser at the corner convenience store ... carry your own mug/glass to fast-food restaurants. If a drink comes in something that will be tossed out ... either don't buy it or use your own vessel.

So ... are you up for this challenge? Hopefully, we'll reduce a lot of waste this week!

Last week's challenge asked us to read food labels and refuse to buy things with unhealthy ingredients. Something interesting that I noticed is that the closer one gets to the center of the store, the more likely the food labels will contain a long, unhealthy list of ingredients. Shopping the perimeter of the store is where one will usually find the most natural and healthy foods.

Here's this week's Honor Society:

Harmony wrote a brilliant article. In the opening section she says: "Imagine. A world free of pesticides..." And then: "Imagine--taking care of yourself..." It's a wonderful post ... I hope you take the time to read it!

Kate stopped by and asked "What about genetically modified food?" After reading her article Genetically modified food proven to cause organ and endocrine damage, I'm adding that to my list of foods to stay away from. Kate also wrote a post about how one company silently changed the ingredients in a product, adding unhealthy levels of sugar. You can read that article HERE. It reminds us that we can't just read the labels once and assume that they'll be consistent from then on ... we have to always read the labels.

Ange joined us saying that her family has been doing this for some time. My mouth watered at the thought of her wholemeal flour frozen blueberry muffins.

Green Gal initially took on the challenge ... she'd been planning to pay more attention to these kinds of things so our challenge was timely for her. But then ... Noah's Bagels & Starbucks flavored drinks diverted her attention. That's okay, Green Gal ... these challenges are all about awareness.

Mrs. Green wrote an article entitled "A week of reading food labels". By the way, I'd like to congratulate Mrs. Green for winning 2nd place in the Green Web Awards under the category of Green Living Advice Sites for her other blog ... My Zero Waste. The competition was fierce and truly, she missed 1st place by only a few votes. Congrats Mrs. Green!

Aine Butler-Smith joined us and asked an interesting question ... "Does eating out at a restaurant count?" So I ask you ... when you eat out, do you choose your meal based on health, nutrition and the environment ... or do you throw caution to the wind?

Eemilla dropped in ... always great to have you with us, Eemilla!

EcoGrrl took the challenge ... and decided to focus on eating out. Her plan is to eat vegetarian in restaurants to minimize the likelihood of toxic ingredients. By the way ... Congratulations to EcoGrrl for winning her Farmer's Market's slogan contest! WhooHoo!!

Danny from Conservation Nation join us and said "I'd rather eat something with things I can read and understand." I second that!

Mommy Tyme accepted the challenge and she passed the word HERE. She also offered us another great tip: "Instead of throwing out those old sweaters (the ones that are past the donation point) or shirts..One thing that we do is cut them into thin strips and hang them on the trees. ... The birds will have them all built into their nests in the next few months." That's a great tip!

Rewinn took the challenge and wrote a wonderful article entitled "Food Rules, Omnivore Drools". In this article he includes a "New Rule: Any foodstuff that has to tell you what it is for, is not something you want to put in your body." Brilliant!

What A Card joined us and wrote a fabulous article about SOLE Food. SOLE stands for Sustainable, Organic, Local, and Ethical ... and What A Card shares, with us, how those ideals work in our food selections.

As always, the Honor Society did a great job!

I've Stumbled and Tweeted your articles!

Thanks, Everyone!

WE'RE CHANGING THE WORLD ... ONE CHALLENGE AT A TIME!