By Fredrica Syren: In the past the beloved Danish toymaker Lego surely has been in the dog house with environmental groups for its partnership with oil companies. Since then, they have done their part to redeem themselves by committing to a more sustainable business practice by trying to find a …

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By Kim Robson: Come springtime, I always have a glut of empty mason jars that have been emptied gradually over the fall and winter. They clutter up our gardening shed, clinking around and getting in the way of things. It’s too early in the year to start canning — so …

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By Fredrica Syren: One way to reduce waste and live a zero waste lifestyle is to cook at home … from scratch. Now, when I tell people I do this, I get lots of questions about how I have the time and energy to cook from scratch for my family. …

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By Fredrica Syren: I used to love going to yoga classes and would try to attend at least once a week. This ancient practice is known for its ability to reduce stress and boost well-being, but it also offers wide-ranging physical health benefits such as improved brain function, a stronger …

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By Larraine Roulston: What is “Precycle,” you may ask? The prefix “pre” together with “cycle” is the latest term that builds on the idea of preventing many recycables from entering your blue box in the first place. By being mindful of unnecessary packaging and avoiding disposable items when you shop, you will have less …

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By Fredrica Syren: When our daughter was a baby, we did not have many toys for her, and actually always laughed at how she would find anything fun to play with (e.g. straps on her car seat, the vacuum, pots and pans, etc.). As we became a family with three …

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By Kim Robson: Palm oil is extracted from the fruits and kernels of palm plants, and is a highly valued vegetable fat in food production because it makes things easy to spread. It’s used worldwide in baked goods, snack foods, frozen foods, and candy (usually as a vegetable oil); and …

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By Fredrica Syren: In our quest to live a zero waste life, packaged foods can be a problem because, yes, the packages themselves generate waste. One simple solution to this problem is to either, number one, buy things in bulk whenever possible; or, number two, just make things yourself. Here …

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 By Fredrica Syren Sometimes when people come over to my house, they are a little horrified to run into my wild kids, who love being outdoors all day long and like to make mud cakes, spray each other with water, and get down and dirty. For me, this is just …

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By Kim Robson: Humans have been fermenting fruits, vegetables and grains since the dawn of civilization. Ancient Mesopotamians stored “liquid bread” for later, using straws to drink beer from large vats as early as 9,000 years ago. Around the same time, a Neolithic village in northern China was producing a …

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