Author Archives: Beth Terry

August 1, 2007

SoyaPower to the People

My SoyaPower soy milk maker arrived today, and I made my first batch of homemade soy milk tonight. (The dried soy beans have to soak for 8-10 hours, so I put them in water this morning and made the soy milk when I came home.) This is a magical piece of kitchen equipment. You put […]

July 31, 2007

Point of Return: Where our recycling actually goes

What really does happen to our recycling after it’s picked up from the curb? Much of it is shipped overseas when it could be better used to provide jobs and source materials here at home. Using Oakland, Northern California, and the Pacific Rim as a case study, this short film is worth the eye-opening 17 […]

July 29, 2007

Plastic Farmer’s Market: My letter to Urban Village Farmers’ Market Association

So, we’re supposed to eat locally, right? To save transportation fuel, to support our local farmers, and to limit our pesticide exposure. And I’m very lucky to have a weekly farmer’s market just down the street within walking distance. The irony is that at our small Temescal Farmer’s Market, at least half of the vendors […]

July 24, 2007

Plastic Microbeads in Facial Scrubs — We’re Flushing Plastic Down the Drain!

06/10/2013 Update:  Several organizations have waged a campaign to get companies to eliminate polyethylene micro-beads from their facial scrubs.  Please read my updated post to take action and learn about what other kinds of products contain microplastics. Here is the text of my original article from July of 2007, which was updated in December 2011: […]

July 23, 2007

Frozen Entrees: A bigger plastic problem than I knew

For weeks, I’ve been choosing frozen entrees in pressboard trays over those in plastic trays, thinking that the only plastic waste was the film overwrap. Now, I find out that the cardboard tray itself is coated with a layer of PET plastic. I found this out through a very nice e-mail exchange and telephone interview with […]

July 21, 2007

The soy milk situation: Write to Wildwood!

Send a short note to Wildwood! Read on to find out more! Well, it’s looking like the only way to buy ready-to-drink refrigerated soy milk without plastic is to spring for the 1-quart carton of Wildwood soy milk. It’s more expensive that way. But the half gallon contains the same plastic spout and cap as […]

July 19, 2007

Information and chocolate. I need some sleep!

For weeks I’ve been staying up all night researching plastic, what it does in the environment, alternative products, alternative packaging, etc. etc. etc. I wonder how much having my computer on all night contributes to global warming? Of course, if it weren’t for this project, I’d probably be sitting in front of it watching recorded […]