Is It That Big of a Problem?

Grades of Green students have been making efforts to reduce waste in their communities during this year’s Waste Campaign. Students are cleaning up litter, reducing their plastic emissions, and diverting food waste. But what’s the big deal with waste?

Waste Affects Us All!

Pollution from single-use plastics, micro-plastics, landfill dumped food, and litter all go in our environment. This pollution can have harmful and unintended side-effects on a variety of things. Animals can choke on larger plastic pieces. Microplastics can be found in many fish and in sea salts used to season food in virtually every ocean. Landfill dumped food can leak nitrogen and phosphates into nearby water ways- damaging wildlife and creating oxygen depriving algae blooms.

In addition, the emissions created by creating many of these unnecessary materials can harm the world as well. Increased carbon emissions are reducing the nutritiousness of rice around the world, a staple crop that feeds much of the world’s developing populations.

What Can We Do?

Grades of Green’s students have been brave enough to start by addressing waste issues within their communities. By reducing plastic usage, cleaning up litter, and diverting food waste towards composting bins, students are not only helping themselves, but helping their communities learn about easy ways to reduce the harmful habits that ultimately harm us. In addition to taking direct action, students have also contacted their legislators to bring this to the attention of decision makers!

Know a brave student who can make a difference too? Have them join us in our next Campaign!

With the holiday season approaching soon, we’re sure that you’ll be looking forward to eating a delicious meal with your friends and family. But what about dealing with the scraps and leftovers after friends and family are gone?

Instead of throwing your hard earned meal into the trash can, follow these recipes from Grades of Green Mentor and former chef, Jordan, to create new delicious dishes and memories.

Post-Holiday Soup

Soup is a versatile dish that can be used for many things. Soup can be eaten as-is, used as a base for noodles, it can be used to cook rice in a rice cooker, and it can be used to make risotto as well. Use it to make a ramen, pasta, or rice dish!

1 set of Turkey or Chicken Bones and poultry leftovers

Salt

Water

Any combination of the following leftovers you may have:

– 1 – 8 Celery stalks

– 1 – 4 Potatoes

– 1 – 4 Carrots

– 1 – 3 Onions

– 4 – 8 Cloves of Garlic

– 1 – 3 Large Tomatoes

– Up to 8 Sage leaves

Steps

– Optional: Roast the turkey bones at 400 F or 200 C for 30 minutes for more intense flavors

– Place bones and poultry leftovers into a large stock pot

– Place any leftovers into the pot

– Fill the pot with water ¾ of the way full or until you are satisfied. Do not fill above ¾ of the stock pot.

– Place the heat on high and boil the pot.

– Once the pot reaches a boil, place a lid on the pot and reduce the heat to low.

– Simmer for at least 30 minutes. You can continue simmering for as long as there is enough water to prevent burning.

– Optional: Skim scum off of the top of the soup with a ladle or a wooden spoon during this time to create a clearer broth.


– Salt to taste

– Strain the bones and vegetables and place the soup into containers. Do not place the lid on while the soup is hot.

– When the soup is not radiating heat through the containers, you may place a lid on the containers and refrigerate or freeze.

– Please use or freeze the soup within 5 days.

Stuffing With Leftovers

Leftover Stuffing is a tasty way to get rid of your leftovers. By mixing leftover ingredients like pulled turkey, mashed potatoes, green beans, into your stuffing, you can easily rebake another few meals.

– 1-2 quarts of leftover stuffing OR 2 loaves of bread cut into small cubes

– 1 cup of stock or water

– ½ stick of butter OR 6-7 tablespoons of olive oil

½ – 1 quart total of any of the following:

Turkey (pulled into small bite sized pieces)

Chopped Sausage

Vegetables

Mashed potatoes

Steps

– Preheat an oven to 350 F or 176 C

– Use ½ stick of butter or olive oil to coat a baking pan. Thoroughly grease the pan.

– Mix leftover stuffing OR cubed bread with leftover ingredients and stock. Place food in the baking pan and cover with a lid or aluminum foil.

– Bake for 30 – 40 minutes.

– Serve!

Vegan Demi-glace

Save your food scraps! Vegetable peels, ends, stems, skins, and washed roots are all used by chefs to create savory stocks to make risottos, sauces, and soup bases, among other things. So save your vegetable leftovers in containers in the fridge or freeze your leftovers until you have enough. These scraps can be used to create a Demi glace or jus- a savory, thick sauce that can act as a gravy that coats roasted vegetables, steaks, pastas, breads, mashed potatoes, or whatever you’d like. Traditionally, demi glaces and jus take a lot of space, time to reduce, and loads of meat. Vegetarian Demi Glace has the ability to impart as much flavor (and possibly even more) as a traditional demi glace because of the sheer amount of different umami compounds from different vegetable scraps without taking loads of space. With a little xanthan gum, pectin, or cornstarch, you can create the same texture as a gravy or slow cooked sauce in an instant.

– 4-5 quarts of veggie scraps (NOTE: mushrooms, eggplants, broccoli, garlic, celery, cauliflower are the best scraps to use for this. Please limit beets, carrots, onions, parsnips, beets to 2 quarts out of the 4-5 quarts to prevent the glace from being too sweet)

– 6 inches of dried kombu (thick dried seaweed)

– 1 tablespoon of tomato puree

– 6-7 tablespoons of olive oil

– 2 ½ quarts of water (or until the veggies in tray are covered)

– 1 teaspoons of pectin OR xanthan gum OR cornstarch*
(If using cornstarch, boil 1 cup of water and add 1 teaspoon of cornstarch before using).

– Salt

Steps

– Heat oven to 300 F or 149 C

– Mix all the veggie scraps, tomato puree, olive oil, and kombu very well in a tall baking tray. Spread out the veggies as well as you can for even cooking.

– Place the baking tray into the oven for 40 – 60 minutes. Check and stir the scraps every 20 minutes.

– Once the scraps look heavily browned or blackened. Place 2 1/2 quarts of water into the baking tray. Be careful and do not burn yourself.

– Roast the tray again for 30 – 40 minutes

– While the tray is roasting, mix your xanthan gum/pectin and salt. Stir well. *If using cornstarch, mix the cornstarch slushie with salt. Stir well.

– Remove the tray from the oven.
– Strain the sauce from the container into a pot. Use a ladle, pour, or a sieve. Please don’t burn yourself. The leftover vegetables can then be composted.

– On medium heat, reduce the sauce for 20 minutes.

– Add your xanthan gum/pectin/cornstarch and water mixture. Please only use one option here.

– Salt to taste and stir well. The sauce should be thick enough to coat a spoon.

– Pour the sauce over your favorite foods and enjoy!

Halloween has long been known as one of the least environmentally-friendly holidays. Between countless candy wrappers, costumes made of harmful plastics, and decorations which burn a lot of energy; it can be hard to navigate a holiday which means so much to so many. Luckily, here’s Grades of Green’s Guide to an Environmentally-Friendly Hallo-green!

 

 

  1. Conscientious Costumes

Costumes sold at Halloween super-stores are often made of materials like PVC which contain phthalate. These materials may be flame-retardant but they end up in a landfill leaking toxic chemicals into the environment. In fact, extended exposure to these chemicals could have adverse health effects.

 

Host a costume swap! Just like with candy, everyone likes a little variety in their costumes! But rather than shell out cash for a new costume every year, host a costume swap with your friends and mix it up! If you’re unable to find friends in your size, join Grades of Green’s virtual costume closet!

 

Design your own costume using supplies you already have at home! Another way to save some green while going green, create your own hallo-green masterpiece from things around the house. Grades of Green’s Litter Monster is not only a great costume, but is a great way to raise awareness for waste reduction efforts.

 

You can also turn an old bridesmaid’s dress you’ll never wear into an undead party-goer with some homemade fake blood. Take an old yoga mat and turn it into a slice of pizza or a British telephone booth.

 

  1. Spooky Sustainable Decorations

Not only are the costumes and decorations comprised of materials which are non-combustible, the plastic packaging they come in only compounds their harmful impact. Rather than spend money on decorations which will likely be thrown out in November, recycle egg cartons into bats or make skeletons our of recycled milk jugs. Old stockings with tears can be made into spider webs, add a construction paper spider and your hallo-green party will be the talk of the town. The opportunities are endless and it can make for a creative DIY project for the whole family.

 

  1. Green Your Treats

While we would love to reduce waste, handing out candy which is not individually wrapped may not go over well with concerned parents. Instead, you can hand out organic goodies with a significantly smaller environmental footprint, like these organic lollipops.

 

  1. Potluck Party

Host a pot-luck hallo-green party and ask your friends to bring their contributions in re-usable containers. Halloween parties can be a huge perpetrator of environmental efforts due to single-use plastics. Hosting a potluck party using silverware instead of single use cutlery will significantly reduce the holiday’s environmental impact.

 

  1. Trick-or-Treat

Avoid hard plastic jack-o-lanterns that will never breakdown in a landfill. Instead using tote bags, reusable shopping bags, or a pillow case to collect goodies is an easy way to be environmentally-friendly.

 

Instead of driving to your trick-or-treat destination, walking will help reduce the number of dangerous pollutants we expel into the atmosphere. Not to mention that it will help burn off the countless calories consumed later that night!

 

  1. LED the Way!

Use solar panel lights to illuminate the path toward your haunted mansion.

 

Sweep your sidewalk when clearing a path for trick-or-treaters; you’ll be saving gallons of water by not using a hose.

 

  1. Pumped for Pumpkin!

Buy organic and shop local! You’ll protect water and reduce carbon emissions by picking up your pumpkin from your local farm. Click Here to locate your local family farm.

 

Save the seeds and pulp from your pumpkin to make delicious snacks and baked goods. By reusing or composting our unwanted pumpkin parts, we can reduce dangerous greenhouse gases. Check out our favorite recipes for Roasted Pumpkin Seeds, Pumpkin Pie, and Pumpkin Soup.

 

Our Water Campaign Student Teams will tell you that eating a meat-less pumpkin based meal would be protecting water. By reusing the pumpkin seeds and pulp we reduce waste. For more fun ways to reuse, recycle and reduce waste, register for our Waste Campaign now!

 

 

 

 

For more DIY projects, green activities, and other ways to remain environmentally-friendly, visit www.GradesofGreen.org. Send your green solutions or pictures of your Hallo-green Holiday to @gradesofgreen or send us a message on Facebook!

Grades of Green wishes a happy summer break to both students and teachers alike! To kick off summer, we hosted a booth at the Aquarium of the Pacific on Teacher Family Day. Teachers were able to learn about Grades of Green’s free environmental programs such as the Trash Free Lunch Challenge and Youth Corps Eco Leadership Program as well as Grades of Green’s 40+ Eco-Activities. Attendees also got to enjoy a fun veggie-stamping activity led by  Youth Corps Eco-Leaders Rylee G., Misha H. and Cosmo H., while learning about the importance of reducing, reusing, and recycling! Interested in bringing some environmental programs into your school? Click here to register with Grades of Green and unlock our 40+ Activities for inspiration!

American science educator Bill Nye once said in his book Undeniable, “To leave the world better than you found it, sometimes you have to pick up other people’s trash.” Grades of Green Youth Corps Eco-Leadership students Lila and Sienna followed Bill Nye’s advice by picking up trash at the beach and then teaching peers at their school science expo different ways to reduce waste! Each attendee who decided to take on an environmental pledge related to waste then got to add a leaf to the team’s “eco tree” display. Youth Corps Eco-Leadership students Will and Marty also took on the trash theme by transforming into trash and recycle monsters! Attendees were able to ask the monsters questions about waste and recycling, and learn what an impact they can truly make. Interested in becoming a Youth Corps Eco-Leadership student and taking on an eco-activity like Lila, Sienna, Will, and Marty? Learn more about the program by clicking here. Want to implement some of these eco-activities and more at your school? Click here to register and unlock Grades of Green’s 40+ Activities!