Organic silverpolish

I read an interesting thing today that I had to try.

Line a ceramic or glass container with aluminium foil (or use an aluminium pan). Fill it up with boiling water and and add one tablespoon of baking soda and one tablespoon of salt. Drop in your silver pieces and make sure they touch both the foil and each other. Then just sit back and watch it work. When they are bright and shiny again (takes just a minute), fish them out, rinse them off and dry with a clean soft cloth.

Some of my napkin-rings were really black and not everything went away. To finish those last black parts I mixed baking soda with a little bit of water to a paste and just rubbed it for a few seconds. Now they're all shiny. Really easy and cheap and no chemicals!

Meat Free Monday

Today we had italian/american inspired vegetarian burgers with fresh vegetables and feta-cheese mix.

For four persons you need;

8 burgers
8 large leafs of lettuce to be used instead of bread
freshly sliced cucumber
freshly sliced tomatoes
toasted onion
sliced cheddarcheese

Fetacheese-mix;
2dl turkish yoghurt
150g fetacheese
1/2 jar of sundried tomatoes
1 clove of garlic
salt and pepper
fresh basil

Crush the feta-cheese into the yoghurt. Chopp the sundried tomatoes into small pieces and put that in the mix together with pressed garlic, salt and pepper. Add a teaspoon or two of the oil from the sundried tomatoes to add flavour. Finish the mix with a few leaves of chopped basil.

Put your burger together and enjoy!

Organic Toothbrush

30 million toothbrushes are disposed of in Australia alone each year. Used toothbrushes produces 1000 tonnes of plastic landfill that won't degrade for generations to come.

The environmental toothbrush is made of bamboo and is 100 percent biodegradable. The use of bamboo causes no deforestation and no pollution since it's a fast-growing grass and sensitive to pesticides. These toothbrushes lasts for as long as your ordinary ones. When you're done with it you can put it on your compost and the entire brush will turn into soil.

The toothbrushes are cheap, 36AUD (SEK255 or USD37) for a pack of 12, and they ship worldwide.

Check it out and order your own at environmentaltoothbrush.com.au

Neutral

Neutral is a Swedish brand approved by the Swedish Asthma and Allergy foundation. They have a lot of different products from skincare to laundry detergent. There are also special products for children and infants.

All products are free from perfume, synthetic dyes and unnecessary additives and some products are marked with Svanen ecolabel (the Swan).

On their web-page you can find good tips on how to prevent allergies.

You can find Neutral in your regular supermarket.

La Pluma Rosé

Today I tried a new organic rosé wine. La Pluma is a spanish wine from producers Julià & Navinès. The grapes are a mix of tempranillo, merlot and cabernet sauvignon. It has a great light red colour and a taste of raspberries and pomegranate.

This wine was really delicious as a pre-dinner drink and we continued with the same wine for our barbecue dinner. It was perfect with grilled pork.

At 79 SEK/11 USD at the Swedish wineshop (Systembolaget) this is really a bargain for those warm summer nights.

Power of consumption

Nobody can do it alone, but with the small steps and choices we make every day, we can all do our part. That's the most important thing I want to show with this blog. We can really do it together. All consumers of food, drink, clothes, fuel, skincare etc etc can put the pressure on our governments and all companies to work for a better and more sustainable future for all of us simply by choosing what we spend our money on.

-Buying organic milk/wine/juice/coffee instead of regular shows our farmers that we don't want to drink chemicals and hormones.
-Buying toys painted with non-toxic paint or made of non-toxic plastic shows our toy-stores that they need to produce and sell things that won't give off poison when our children put them in their mouth.
-Buying organic skincare will tell the producers that we don't want to rub chemicals on the biggest organ we have; our skin.
-Using public transportation whenever possible and buy cars with alternative fuel-sources will show the oil-industry that enough is enough.

If we keep asking at our local stores for those products and keep buying the things that are good for us those things will be produced in a larger scale. We can make the power of money work in our favour.

Yes we can!

Plastic is not so fantastic in LA

Today Los Angeles is the 14th city in California and the largest city in the US to ban disposable plastic bags at the check-out counters in grocery stores. The ban will take effect later this year after an environmental impact report. The city has 7500 grocery stores, and they will all have to comply with this. The larger ones within six months and the smaller ones within a year.

Three billions of plastic bags goes to waste each year in L.A alone so undoubtedly this will have a huge impact on the environment. Altogether California uses over 12 billions of plastic bags every year and only 5 percent is being recycled.

From the beginning the ban also included paperbags, but this was not a part of the deciscion this time. Instead customers will be charged 10 cents per paper bag at the store. In two years the city will conduct a study to determine if the ban should also include paperbags.

There has been a lot of discussions about the loss of jobs for people that produces those plastic bags. This is a great example on how to move forward; Projectgreenbag. Environmentally friendly and keeping employment within California as well.

More information about plastic waste can be found at the Plastic Pollution Coalitions website.

Cosmonova

Today I watched a preview of the movie To the Arctic at Sweden's only IMAX-cinema. IMAX uses the largest existing format for film and in Cosmonova it is shown on a dome-shaped screen that's 760m². It gives you a completely different movie-experience, like you're a part of the movie somehow. The tickets are the same price as in regular cinemas, and it's well worth a visit to see any of the different movies shown.






The movie To the Arctic is hopefully going to air in september, and it's a movie that speaks to all of us. It shows how the animals of the Artic is struggling to survive in this cold, pristine and inhospitable area of the world. Some of them, like the polar bear, will never be able to live anywhere else but here. For them this is paradise and they thrive far out on the ice. Unfortunately, if the temperature continues to rise these amazingly beautiful creatures will die. It's an important film to show, and I hope many schools will go see it. We were joined by a nine year old, and he really liked it. Even though it wasn't translated to Swedish yet just the pictures of polar bears, walrusses and seals were exciting. I hope those wonderful creatures will still be around when he's old enough to travel and see them in the wild. It was a great movie narrated by Meryl Streep with music by Paul McCartney.

Meat Free Monday

It's monday again and today I'm going to make tagliolini with lemon, feta-cheese and basil. It's a recipe from Gordon Ramsey that we've tried before and it's one of the most fantastic pastas I've ever eaten.

For 4 persons you need;

500 gr of fresh pasta (preferably tagliolini)
zest and juice from one lemon (appr. 1/2 dl)
5 tablespoons of shredded parmesan
200 gr feta-cheese
1 pot of basil
2 tablespoons of toasted pine nuts
olive oil
salt
freshly ground black pepper

-Cook the pasta and pour it over the strainer. Keep 2 tablespoons of the water in the saucepan.
-Put the pasta back in the saucepan and add 4 tablespoons of olive oil, lemon zest, lemon juice and parmesan.
-Crush and add 3/4 of the feta-cheese and the basil and mix it all together. Season with 1/2 a teaspoon of salt and a few pinches of pepper.
-Top with the rest of the feta-cheese and the pine nuts.
-Serve and enjoy!

Nespresso - or someting else?

I don't drink coffee, but when I see the Nespresso pods that look like candy I'm really tempted to start.

The pods are made of aluminium, and in Sweden they can be disposed of at the regular recycling center as metal. Sweden and Germany are currently the only countries where this is possible. Told you we take recycling seriously.... In countries where this is not possible Nespresso has developed their own system to recycle and reuse the capsules. Ask at your local Nespresso store. 

The coffee beans are unfortunately not organic which means that this is not a very healthy option. Nespresso has a very good website with information on how they work closely together with farmers to create long-term business and to work together for a more sustainable future. It's an admirable approach, and I hope they will move even further and start promoting organic farming. As I've written before there are a lot of chemicals used in producing coffee, and that's really harmful for the producers, the environment and the consumers. So if you're buying Nespresso make sure to ask for organic coffee to make them understand that we want it chemical-free.

Reuse the pods? Below are some fun and creative pictures.

Beautiful cups from Dottings

Small works of art by Aqui H Gato

Necklace from the "Throw away Gold" collection by Nolia Shakti.

Key pendants. Artist unknown.

Table "What Else" from Studio Verissimo

Recycling

In Sweden we have a great tradition of recycling. Everybody does it and there have even been reports of fights or discussions between neighbors if someone happens to put something in the wrong container. We take recycling very seriously...

We bring our soda cans and plastic waterbottles to the supermarket to recycle them and get a refund.

There are recycling areas in every neighborhood where you can dispose of;

-Newspaper
-Clear glass
-Coloured glass
-Metal
-Clothes for charity
-Plastic
-Paper
-Batteries

If you have larger items like tv:s, computers, products with built-in batteries, furniture, paint etc etc those can be disposed of in separate areas available in every county.

Organic Breakfast

Todays breakfast consist of;

Turkish yoghurt, bananas, fresh strawberries, and homemade cereal. The cereal is mixed with coconut flakes, flax-seeds, almonds, quinoa-puffs, sunflower-seeds, hazelnuts and pumpkin seeds. The ingredients are from Kung Markatta, Saltå Kvarn, ICA - I love eco and Biofood. A cup of  Pukka Vanilla Chai tea completes the meal. It is delicious!

Kung Markatta

Kung Markatta is a Swedish brand that has been working with organic food since 1983.
They sell about about 2000 different articles and 150 of them are produced under their own name Kung Markatta. The articles range from olive oil to bread to tofu to sweets and everything in between.

On their homepage you can read the fun story about how the company started with the driving spirit of Lennart that did it all in his own apartment in the beginning. There is a full list of their products and also recipes where you can choose if you want products without for example gluten or milk.

Apart from providing us with healthy food they are active in their own industry trying to influence their competitors and cooperation partners to do more. They are affiliated to several different eco-labels and they compensate for all their emissions during transportation.

Kung Markattas products can be found in most of the supermarkets in Sweden and also in health food stores of course. It always feels good to support a local brand and being able to be healthy while doing so is even better.

Meat Free Monday

It's monday again, and ok I haven't really gotten the cookbooks needed, nor do I have the (much wanted) ability to look through the kitchen and mix together what I find into something fantastic.

But anyhow this is what we'll have for dinner tonight;

Vegetarian schnitzel made of soy and wheat protein (frozen, not made from schratch). This is served with a large sallad made of spinach, tomatoes, bell peppers, broccoli and feta-cheese. Dressing is regular evoo (extra virgin olive oil) with a taste of lemon. Yummy!

Education

If you want to work with environmental issues there are some different educations to choose from in Sweden. Most universities offer different undergraduate- and graduate studies. Below are some of them.

Stockholm University has the Department of Applied Environmental Science; Itm. You can study to the level of Bachelor, Master and PhD and you can also do undergraduate studies. You choose orientation of the above exams and will be specialized in biology, chemistry or geoscience.

At Lund University there is the Centre for Environmental and Climate Research; Cec. You can study to the level of Bachelor, Master and PhD and you can also continue on with research after you've graduated.





Uppsala University have several different educations to choose from. For example at Swedish Biodiversity Centre; CBM. There is a Master in Sustainable Development and various undergraduate studies. Read more here.

At Gothenburg University you can study at the Department of Earth Science, GVC. You can study Geology, Marine Geology, Physical Geography or Climatology.








Linköping University has a Masters Degree in Environmental Science. It's multidisciplinary and aspires to find and study various aspects of how to to create a sustainable future.






In Visby, at Gotland University, you can study Environmental Science with focus on energy and society. Read more here.

Books

I love books! I've been reading a lot since I was a kid, and I continue to read and discover new authors all the time. Right now I'm not allowing myself to buy any new books until I've finished the ones I have. I've also been thinking about all the paper and transport needed to produce these books.

I've been buying all my books for years from Adlibris. It's such a fantastic website, and you really can find everything there. They have books in a lot of different languages, they get delivered quickly (you can choose to have them delivered in a carbon neutral way) and my favourite thing - they have a great wish list. My wish-list is over a hundred books long at the moment (see why I need to stop myself?). This wish list is also available on their App (of course I've got it) and you can email it to your family for tips on birthday- or christmas gifts.

So how do I get more books and being nice to the enivironment at the same time? I've  never been one to throw away books so my bookshelves keeps filling up. I love to give books as gifts as well so friends and families bookshelves are also getting full.

This is what I've decided;
Give away the books that I've read and no longer need. I save my favourite ones and those from my favourite authors, but the rest has to go. It's time to get a library card and get books from there instead. Saves money as well as paper. The broken ones goes to the recycle bin. For beeing such a nerd for gadgets, it's really a shame that I haven't tried downloading books yet. I promise I'll start after I get myself an Ipad. There are also some books marked FSC, and it feels better to choose these when possible.

Today I read an article about book-exchange in Sweden. For the fourth year in a row there will be a possibility to exchange your used books towards other ones. This event takes place on the 25th of may in a lot of different places in Sweden. Read more and find the place closest to you at Storabokbytardagen.

Origins Skincare

Origins is a fantastic skincare brand. Not only do they have a lot to choose from, they also care very much about our environment. Some of their products are certified organic ones, but all of them are produced with a lot of respect towards the environment and the people meant to use it. They are mixing science and nature together beautifully with their organic ingredients and natural essential oils. Plants from all over the world are being used and their labs research each and every ingredient and mix them toghether. Some of the ingredients used are white tea, ginger, mimosa, mint, basil and vitamin C.

None of the products contains phtalates, dyes, mineral oils, PABA (chemical sunscreen), parabens, synthetic fragrances or petrolatum and the end result is tested on volunteer human panels. 

In North America (and more countries to come) they have a program that encourages their consumers to bring their used cosmetic bottles and jars (Origins brand or any other brand) to their nerest Origins store to be recycled and reused to help reduce the landfill.

I recently bought a brightening serum that Origins produced together with Dr Andrew Weil. They have made a comlete range of skincare-products together with carefully selected ingredients. Knowing that Dr Weil is a fantastic botanist this is really something to try.

The Origins homepage is a treasure-chest where you can spend a long time trying to decide what to try next. You can read all about the products and their commitment to purity. It is also a great that you can place comments about their products and to read what everybody else thinks.

Well worth a visit and a trial. Unfortunately you can not shop on their homepage outside of the US or Canada. In Sweden you can find them at some of the bigger department stores, or go wild when you travel.

Radiation 24/7

We've already established my fascination with gadgets. I'm madly in love with my iPhone, my iPad (don't have one yet, but I love it), and my laptop. That it saves resources is also clear. Less paper, plastic and metal when you have everything online. Well, at least if you hang on to your gadgets for a while and don't exchange them too often...

But what does this constant exposure to radiation do to our bodies? How do we respond to radiation 24/7?

On my office desk there is one hard drive, two computer-screens and one phone with a wireless headset. In front of me, behind me and on both sides of me there are people with exactly the same things.

In my small office there are;
9 hard-drives, 18 computer-screens, 9 wireless headsets, two large TV-screens, one microwave oven, one wireless network and at least 9 cellphones. I spend at least 8 hours a day in that environment.


When I get home I'm surrounded by; one microwave oven, one wireless network, two laptops, two cellphones (both of them used as alarm-clocks), two tv:s (one of them in the bedroom), one blue-ray player, one stereo and one surround-sound system.

What does this do to our bodies and our peace of mind?

Dr Weil

Dr Andrew Weil is a Medicine Doctor from Harvard and a world-renowned botanist. He has a holistic approach towards health and wants to join together traditional medicine with alternative medicine. Some see him as highly controversial and don't agree to this "mix" of traditional and alternative medicine, but for me it's just common sense and about finding the best solutions for yourself. He calls his perspective Integrative Medicine and he has written numerous books about healing as a human being and given advice on food, exercise, mind and spirit and overall health. His daily newsletter provides you with a short version health tip each day. Dr Weil promotes a lifestyle were you live your life to the fullest and best of your ability. I've been reading his newsletters for a long time and also some of his books. Read more at Dr Weil

Weleda

Weleda was started in 1921 by the founders of anthroposophical medicine, Rudolf Steiner and Ita Wegman, and has been producing organic skincare ever since. Anthroposophical medicine is about improving a persons ability to heal herself and they believe in a close connection between human beings and nature. This philosophy is still at the very core of Weleda.

Weleda products are free from parabens and synthetic dyes and of course not tested on animals. A lot of their products are also certified through Na True.

My favourites are their Citrus Creamy Body Wash that smells great and their Birch Body Scrub that really works wonders softening your skin.

You can find their products in many drugstores, health food stores or supermarkets and you can also find them in their webshop.

Meat Free Monday

We have decided to join the Meat Free Monday movement and exclude meat on our plates on Mondays.

Today I'm making tacos with all the good stuff; fresh salad, sour cream, corn, tomatoes, cucumber, onion, spicy cheese, avocado and spicy sauce. We'll mix it up with the new vegetarian tacomince made of soy protein from Hälsans Kök.

Read more at meatfreemonday or in Swedish; köttfrimåndag.

Bruichladdich

The Bruichladdich organic whisky (2010) was the only spirit to recieve three stars at the Gault Millau and and Michelin Superior Taste Award in 2011. That's a very good score...

This whisky is on special order at the Swedish wineshop (Systembolaget). It takes about two weeks to get it, but according to my husband it's worth the wait.

Buzz about Burt

Burt Shavitz used to work as a photographer in New York but wanted do something different with his life. He moved to Maine and started to sell honey made from his hives up in the hills outside of Dexter. A woman named Roxanne approached him at a local flea market and they decided to join forces and started to produce and sell candles made from Burts stored beeswax.

What started out as selling honey and candles of beeswax is now the largest company for organic skincare in North America and it finally arrived in Sweden in 2011.

Burt's Bees products contain no sulfate, parabens, perfumes or phtalate and the ingredients are 99 percent natural. They belive action speaks louder than words and applies this approach in every part of the company. From recycling the packaging and not testing on animals to educating consumers and taking good care of their employees. They also have a strong local committment and are involved in several different projects working for a more sustainable community.

I use the lip-balm with acai-berries; smells great! I've also tried the Naturally Ageless facial moisturizer with pomegranate and the Radiance Body Lotion.

Check ot Burt's story here.

Drilling for Oil in the Arctic

Shell is one of the companies planning to drill for oil in the Arctic region.
Our need for oil is about to destroy the last pristine and untouched areas of our planet.
We can not afford to let this happen.

Please help put an end to this by signing here; Greenpeace

Electric cars in Norway

There are actually quite a few electric cars in Norway (well, at least in Oslo).
It's funny because you can tell by the registration plates that it's an electric car.
In Sweden, Norway and Denmark electricity is shortend to el in everyday language, and all the registration plates on electric cars here in Norways starts with EL.

Read more at elbil.no

Rosendal

The gardens of Rosendal is place of tranquility right in the centre of Stockholm.
You can walk around in the beautiful surroundings of Djurgården and finish off with a coffe, a glass of wine or a lunchbreak at Rosendal.

Their food is organic and delicious and in the summer you can enjoy it outdoors. In the wintertime you can sit inside one of their greenhouses.

It's a very popular spot, make sure you are there at the right time or that you have enough patience to wait. It's definitely worth your while. 

After you've finished your coffee you can spoil yourself with some new plants or bring home some chocolate, handmade pots or freshly baked bread from the shop.