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By Kelley Dennings When Virginia’s governor enacted stay-at-home orders I didn’t run out to get toilet paper. Instead I went to the hardware store for all the container-friendly, spring-vegetable starter plants I could find, including celery, leeks, lettuce and broccoli. My motivation was to support my mental health during this time. I wasn’t worried yet about feeding my body. I generally keep a full pantry, and I had five to seven days’ worth of food, which I thought was ple

By Denali Sai We tend to shape our worldview with clear notions of good and bad. This grants us clarity of mind and groundedness in an otherwise volatile world. However, when we adhere to a binary, we restrict ourselves from thinking about many others’ experiences and needs, too often those of marginalized and BIPOC communities. When we see the world as us vs. them, as good vs evil, we lose sight of swaths of people, without whose voices a vision of a better world is not poss

By Rita Foth Empty shelves in the grocery store. Shortages of essential protective gear for frontline medical workers. Long delays on shipping. While these shortages range from severe and life-altering to minor inconveniences, everyone has experienced some degree of product unavailability during the pandemic. A light-hearted yet infuriating example is the pillaging and plundering (when did we all turn into pirates?) of the toilet paper aisle. How many of you have gone from st

By Hannah Nelson Washingtonians have a complicated relationship with the ginkgo tree. The day I discovered the ginkgo outside my apartment was one of those distinctly DC beautiful days: the trees were that fresh green that comes at the end of spring and stays for early summer, the sky so blue you’d think it was cloudless, too. The tree in question is on the grounds of the National Cathedral, in a pocket of grass that used to be my spot for fair-weather reading. Until this yea

By Patty Simonton Women around the world are looking at entrepreneurship as a way to make a real and lasting impact in their communities and beyond. Women are questioning the lack of healthy, responsible, affordable snack options for our children. They’re wondering why we, as a society, continue to tolerate single-use plastic and fast fashion despite the social and environmental impacts. They’re looking around in our grocery stores and noticing that most of the fresh-cut flow

By Erica Meier For children and adults alike, Halloween is all about the treats. Fortunately, we’ve got a few tricks to share about how to find delicious eco- and animal-friendly treats. We’ve even got a few ways to turn your pumpkins into treats for everyone to enjoy, including our wildlife friends! Buying healthy treats – for us and our planet This time of year, stores are loaded with Halloween treat options – however, many of them aren’t healthy choices for our bodies or o

By Melissa Lembke When you think of Washington, D.C., hiking isn’t the first thing that comes to mind.  You more likely think politics, monuments, and museums.  But, truth be told, the nation’s capital is home to hundreds of miles of natural beauty and opportunities for exploration. According to The Trust for Public Land’s 2016 ParkScore® index, Washington, D.C. (which is 21.9% parkland) comes in third out of the 100 largest U.S. cities for meeting the need for parks.  All th

By Cara Blumenthal You just finished lunch at your favorite salad hotspot. You get up from the table, gather the plastic bowl and lid, plastic fork and knife, and flexible plastic packaging (that previously packaged the fork and knife) and head over to the trash and recycling bins. Quick! What do you do? Do you stand there, for longer than you are proud of, contemplating into which bin to sort your waste? Perhaps you use some haphazard decision-making process that draws on he

By Elizabeth Hubley This salad is everything I love about spring – crisp, tender asparagus; the first juicy vibrant tomatoes of the season, creamy pasture-raised goat cheese, and a light dressing featuring sweet local honey. A satisfying crunch from toasted hazelnuts brings it all together. In each recipe I create, I choose ingredients that are good for you, people, and the planet. I believe that we have the power to support our bodies, strengthen our communities, and live ou

By Tamara Toles O’Laughlin I recently attended a briefing on the Social Cost of Carbon (SCC) sponsored by the Ayres Law Group and it set my wonky heart ablaze. It featured panelists from advocacy, policy, economic, and legal backgrounds who vividly discussed the future of this calculation which is intended to bring environmental damages or externalities back into the conversation on federal enterprise regulation. While eating up the jargon and enjoying the jockeying between d

by Catherine Plume Bicycle commuting continues to grow in the DC area and according to a US Census report, 4.5 percent of DC residents commuted to work by bike in 2013. Only Portland, Oregon “out bikes” us with 5.9 percent of their commuters using pedal power to commute. Commuter biking is fun, hip, and undoubtedly the quickest way to get around town, but it’s not without its challenges. If you’re considering joining the ranks of the DC bicycle commuter brigade, here are a co

By DC EcoWomen Board Member Lina Khan As the month of Ramadan begins this week for Muslims, many of us are preparing both physically and mentally for fasting. Muslims believe that during this month in the 600s C.E., the holy text of the Quran was revealed to the Prophet Muhammad. Even before the text was revealed, he often spent time in meditation and reflection. In the present day, Muslims do the same during Ramadan, and fast from food, drink, and other physical needs during

It seems that in the wake of Hurricane Sandy came winter.  Cold temperatures (except for the weekend’s “heat wave”) and days that get dark quickly (thank you daylight savings time) signal the beginnings of winter to me.  So this weekend, I spent some time preparing for a ‘green’ winter. Here are the winter-y things I’m forward to this season: 1. Winter Veggies.  Eating seasonal foods and veggies mean knowing what is available during the winter.  Veggies like broccoli and caul

By Katrina Phillips Our evening began with a short local spotlight story from Sam Ullery, the Schoolyard Garden Specialist for DC’s education office.  I had no idea the DC school system had such a position, and it was great to see Sam’s passion to provide students in the area access to local, nutritious food. Elisabeth Guilbaud-Cox from the UN Environment Program Regional Office for North America also joined the screening.  She applauded the audience for attending because as

By Kate Seitz Hi fellow EcoWomen. I’m Kate, a mid-twenty’s Midwestern transplant to DC and self-proclaimed environmental enthusiast, perpetually on the lookout for new ways to “green” my routine. My kitchen cupboards are exploding with glass jars that previously held jam, pickles, you name it. Can’t get enough of ‘em, and continually find new ways to re-use ‘em. I think I may be allergic to wasting food and throwing recyclables in a non-recycling bin. I’ve dabbled in the crea

By Vesper Hubbard In April, DC EcoWomen hosted a panel discussion for EcoHour on local farming. We heard about kosher meat production from Devora Kimelman-Block (KOL Foods), about private DC gardens from Meredith Sheperd (Love and Carrots), and small-scale produce farming from Tanya Tolchin (Jug Bay Market Garden). These women have all made admirable commitments to sustainable practices that promote the health and well-being of their friends, families, and communities. Devora

By Cheryl Kollin, Livability Project Defining sustainability When I mention in casual conversation that I work with “sustainable” organizations, I typically get puzzled, deer-in-the-headlights responses. Sometimes I swap the “s” word with, “livable” or “green”, but still the response is generally the same — confusion. Some people, of course, use the same language to describe their latest ventures. My conversation companion might launch into a story about making a lot of money

by Vesper Hubbard In the Gen Y era, social media is as ubiquitous in our professional lives as it is in our personal lives. Most of us remember the beginning of social media as Friendster and MySpace, then Facebook came along and changed the game.  I remember my freshman year of college and the buzz on campus was a semester long campaign to have Facebook host our tiny liberal arts university. Ah the glory, finally we were able to connect with our old friends from high school