You know those lil’ paper cups of latte that you get from coffee shops? Think about how many people get one of those lattes every day. How much water does that take?

Welp, it turns out that to make each cup o’ latte, it takes 200 liters of water. That’s over 50 gallons of water for each latte!! Hot dang!

Besides just the water you see, lots of water is also used for the coffee production, milk, disposable cup and sleeve, lid, and sugar. Check out this here video from WWF for more information…

Halloween. The very name sends tears streaming down any Eco-Hero‘s face as they contemplate the mass murder of millions of innocent pumpkins. But fret not. Out of this pumpkin massacre, some good can come. And that good is known as roasted pumpkin seeds and homemade pumpkin pie.

Homemade Pumpkin Pie

Let us begin with the pumpkin pie recipe. Now I’m not talking about pumpkins from a can, or frozen pre-made pumpkin pies. No. I’m talkin’ ’bout some made-from-scratch, down-home, honest-to-goodness, homemade pumpkin pie.
Pumpkin Pie Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 1.5 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 teaspoons nutmeg
• one half teaspoon ground ginger
• 4 large eggs
• 3 cups stewed pumpkin, mashed
• 12oz of evaporated milk

Here’s whatchu do:
* Find a pumpkin (a jack o’ lantern will do). After appropriately mourning its brutal death, collect all the parts that were cut out (eyes, nose, mouth, the works).
* Skin these pumpkin pieces, and cut them into “manageable chunk” size.
* Boil these in a microwave or on the stove until you can easily push a fork through them.

* Mash up the boiled pumpkin.
* Add condensed milk, sugar, eggs, and spices.
* Dump it all into a pie crust (filling to about 1/4″ below the top).
* Bake at 425 F for 15 minutes, then bake for about 50 minutes at 350. You can tell it’s done if you stick a knife in it and it comes out pretty clean.

* Let cool on rack
* Eat the delicious pie made from the flesh of the defenseless pumpkins, or you can wrap it up using some reused foil from a restaurant, like so:

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds

* When you clean out a pumpkin to make a jack-o-lantern, save the seeds.
* Rinse the seeds, removing any of that orange, stringy mess.

* Add a wee bit o’ oil, some salt, and any other flavors you want (hot sauce, honey, curry).
* Bake at 275 degrees for 10-20 minutes (until they’re golden brown), stirring the seeds when they’re halfway done.

* Congratulations, you have now made a delicious and nutritious snack from the guts of a freshly killed pumpkin. I hope you’re proud of yourself.

These are great ways to use every part of the pumpkin, much like the Indians (these Indians, not these) used every part of the buffalo. Let me know if y’all know any other good pumpkin recipes. Thankee kindly.
Also, it is not too late to enter the free giveaway contest!! Click here for some details.

This here tip will reduce food waste AND save you literally pennies each time you use it! I had to use this here tip last weekend on a plastic barbecue sauce bottle. I squoze the bottle with my gnarled and calloused hands ’til nothing else came out, then good ol’ Tiff told me this helpful lil’ green hint:

1. Take bottle (lotion, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, etc.)
2. Cut bottle in half using scissors (please wear goggles, gloves, elbow pads, and a mouth guard, and have your parents supervise you)
3. Use a spatula to get out the rest of the sauce, salad dressing, or what have you.

Simple. A tip that reduces waste while saving you money. Now that’s an EcoJoes© kind of green tip.

I’m EcoJoe and I approve of this message.

Last week I came home to find a large cardboard box from Papa Spud’s. What is Papa Spud’s, you might ask? Welp, Papa Spud’s is a company that delivers mainly local, mainly organic fruit and vegetables to Raleigh and its surrounding towns. Almost all their produce comes from inside North Carolina, which means that you’re supporting local farmers plus cutting down on the transportation pollution.

Here’s the plethora of nutritious vittles that greeted me when I tore open the box. Please note the insulating lining that keeps the produce nice n’ cold.

• 3 big yellow peaches from NC
• Pint of grape tomatoes (NC)
• 2 slicing cucumbers (NC)
• 2 big eggplants (NC)
• 6 red dale potatoes (NC)
• and from California, a ginormous bag of red seedless grapes

Since I opened the box, I’ve tried all of the foods and have only an eggplant and some grape tomatoes left. It was dang good, with no messed up fruit or vegetables. The grapes and peaches were especially good. I’m about to finish up the eggplant and tomaters tomorrow.

Oh yeah, they reuse their insulated boxes. Each week, you put them outside on your doorstep, and they pick them up when they bring your new vegetables. A simple, efficient, non-wasteful system.

Anyhoo, if you live close to Raleigh, you should go check them out. Their website explains how you can start getting local, organic food delivered to your house this week. The best thing about it is that it encourages you to try some new healthy foods, plus support yo’ local farmers, all without leaving the comforting womb of your own home.

FREE CALCULATOR CONTEST! IT’S WORTH IT, TRUST ME.
Way back in the day, I remember my mom would sometimes make homemade strawberry jam. We would spread it on our week-old bread, crying with happiness as the sweet fruit preserves covered up the normal moldy taste of our bread. An added bonus is that when it’s homemade strawberry jam, you can use organic, local strawberries and also reuse some old glass jars, instead of getting strawberries from who-knows-where and a brand new glass jar.

After much Internet (and soul) searching, I decided to share this secret homemade strawberry jam recipe. Unlike my recipe for homemade protein bars, this actually requires using the stove, so get an adult’s supervision!!!!!

Get a Glass Jar

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Good ol’ Wal-Mart and Costco have started using a new design for their milk jugs, and I think they’ve come up with a real winner. The new design has a whole mess of environmental and cost advantages compared to the milk jug design that you’re probably used to, but there are some people that jes’ plain don’t care for it. Here’s a brief summary of its pros and cons.

New Milk Jug Design Pros

• Less shipping materials – The old jugs had to be packaged with heavy shipping crates. The new ones can be stacked with just a layer of cardboard between them.
• More efficient transport – Less shipping materials means more milk jugs can be transported in each truck, so companies save money on gas and cut down on air pollution.
• Shipping labor cut in half
• Water usage cut by 60-70% – The old shipping crates had to be sprayed off after each run, since milk would spill on them and birds would roost in them
• Lower milk cost! – “Sam’s Club said [there] was a savings of 10 to 20 cents a gallon compared with old jugs.“
• The new milk jugs fit better in your fridge.

The Bad Side of New Milk Jug Design

Amy Wise, a homemaker in Ohio, said the new-fangled gallon jug spilled milk everywhere. Judging from the picture, I’d say her main problem is that she’s trying to pour the milk into an imaginary cup in her left hand. No wonder she looks frustrated.

Many people say the new milk jugs are harder to pour. But I think with more practice, people will get used to them quickly. With all the benefits (less pollution, cheaper milk, easier transportation, and more efficient use o’ materials), methinks that the new milk jug may be here to stay.

* The bodacious picture of Amy Wise was taken by David Maxwell of The New York Times.

If you care about the environment, and you care about free mess, AND you care about coffee, then this bad boy is for you. All’s you have to do is follow these simple instructions to get a free sample of some organic coffee.

1. Go to Isla Earth
2. Sign up for the E-Digest on the left side o’ the screen
   
3. Fill in the required parts of the form. Where it says I want the sample of free organic coffee, just put “Yes” or “Heck yeah” or something to that effect.
4. Wait by the mailbox.

That’s it. Hopefully this free organic coffee sample comes through. I am wondering how different organic coffee will taste. Since it’s free, I got a feeling it’ll taste superb.