Day 10: Pack an Eco-Friendly Lunch!

This one is a money saver, and studies show that it might be the way to go health-wise as well (for many reasons, including knowing how your food was prepared, what's in it, how long since it was made, and how long it has been in it's container(which may leach toxins into food over time!))

Unless you can get a reasonably price, and relatively eco-friendly meal at work or school that is not served in single-use containers, this is really the way to go!

So, when you are packing your lunch, pay attention to how you pack everything. Plastic sandwich baggies? Saran-wrap? Brown paper bag? Conveniently pre-packaged items? All of these items will most likely be thrown away by the end of the day -imagine that for every working day of the year? -that's probably about 250 days worth of junk! Just take a moment to picture what that would look like piled-up on your living room floor. Just because it is out of sight in some landfill somewhere, doesn't mean it should be out of mind!

This year I have made the switch to packing my own lunch in re-usable containers. While this originally stemmed from dietary issues, there are tons of great reasons to pack your own lunch and use eco-friendly containers.

First step is to find a re-usable lunch bag: note that I said, FIND not buy! I'm sure you have something kicking around that could be re-purposed! Mine is the little cloth bag that came with my cellphone when I bought it.

After this, for your sandwich you can use tupperware, a sheet of paper towel which doubles as a serviette, or if you are feeling particularly industrious, a re-usable cloth that doubles as a serviette (just toss it into your wash along with your re-usable towel every so often) and is bio-degradable once it's long life as a Sandwich-Holster is over!

Cloth pouches, small ceramic containers or other re-usable containers are great for carrying things like nuts or granola.

For your drink, dig around and surely you have a metal water bottle floating around the house somewhere - or bring a cup to school/work and help yourself to the abundance of tap water!

So my challenge to myself and to you is to pack an eco-friendly lunch, taking into consideration not only the food that you are consuming, but how you are carrying it as well!

On a quick note, I was surprised that I didn't get more feedback on the "Eat Local/Seasonal" post yesterday. I realize that for many this is a fairly heated topic, with arguments going both ways. My friend Gen messaged me with a link to this article which raises some interesting issues about the 100-Mile diet.  There are so many factors that need to be considered when calculating the carbon-footprint of our meal - where is it from? what is it exactly? how was it grown? is it sustainable?

So, really, I think the bottom line is to try and make knowledgeable, informed decisions about where we get our food and other products as well as where they end up, and really consider other aspects outside of our personal finances and cravings. I came across this quote in my engineering (yes!) textbook the other day, drawn from Aboriginal traditions and cultures, which I think sums up what I am trying to say here nicely :

"We cannot simply think of our survival; each new generation is responsible to ensure the survival of the seventh generation. The prophecy given to us, tells us that what we do today will affect the seventh generation and because of this we must bear in mind our responsibility to them today and always."


So, with Yolanda's excellent suggestion that I should pose questions to stimulate discussion in mind:
do you pack a lunch from home? why or why not? if not, do you think you will in the future?

And of course, do you have any tips for me and others?

Happy Monday!