Author: Jenny Levine

Jenny is a member of the Office of Sustainability's communications team and studying journalism and anthropology. She loves overweight pugs, tailored suits and her nonna's zeppole and hates styrofoam.

Eco-friendly gifts to give during the holiday season

Contributed by Alesha Bradford

It’s the holiday season once again, which marks a time of giving to loved ones and those in need. Perhaps you’ve practiced an environmentally conscious lifestyle for some time now, or maybe you’ve just started the journey!

For the old and new, these are some green gift ideas to give or do that’ll get everyone in the sustainable-spirit and start the next year on a green note.

Courtesy of Static Flickr

Buy gifts from a sustainable source

If you’re willing to do some research, buying a gift from a sustainable source is a great way to support eco-friendly companies. To find out about a company’s practices, you can look on their “FAQ” page on their website, check their product descriptions or even contact a representative if you’re still unsure. Asking these questions not only encourages informed consumerism, but will also lead to companies making this information more accessible to the public so they can more easily make environmentally-conscious shopping decisions.

Read more

Vegetarian recipes to get you through the holidays

My favorite part of any holiday celebration is the food. Grandmas, uncles and cousins come together to make amazing comfort food, well comfort for some people. A lot of the holiday meals revolve around holiday roasts and seven fishes, and for vegetarians and vegans this can be a logistical nightmare.

No need to yell at your family for “forgetting” you don’t eat meat, go to your local Trader Joe’s or Ralph’s and pick up ingredients for one of these easy and sustainable holiday recipes.

Courtesy of Flickr

Sweet Potato Latkes

Whether you’re celebrating a religious holiday or just hanging out with friends and family, potato latkes are a feel-good meal for all. The simple way to do it is cutting potatoes and fry ‘em up, but I found a great vegan recipe you can try here but you can always replace the ingredients with whatever you prefer. Top your beautiful creation with applesauce!

Read more

Using art to express the effects climate change

Piece made by Alisha Aggarwal

Contributed by Alisha Aggarwal

The statistics seem numbingly normal now as they flash on news channels—Hurricane Harvey could end up being the costliest natural disaster in U.S. history at $190 billion! 51.9 inches of rain! 56,000 calls made to 911 during 15 hours in Houston! Harvey, Irma, Maria, Jose, Ophelia. Wildfires. Landslides. Flooding. The list goes on.

Read more

How to Green your Halloween

Halloween is a holiday dedicated to ca pumpkins and candy comas, but what happens to all the squash and sugar on November 1st? Over 1 billion pounds of pumpkin are produced during the Halloween season, the vast majority end up rotting in the landfill. And the sweet stuff? Americans buy 600 million pounds of candy a year with that hard-to-recycle wrapper.

I know I want to reduce my waste for Zero Waste Month, and if you do too you might want to take a tip or two from what I scoured on the waste-free web.

Graphic by Katherine Facchini

Read more