Look for a romantic and environmentally responsible restaurant to take your Valentine’s date.

• Local Harvest has a great restaurant finder feature.
• Organic Highways has a database of restaurants in categories like Organic, Other, and Whole Grain.
• The Organic Food Database has a small listing of restaurants.
• The Huffington Post has a map of locavore restaurants contributed by readers.

My favorite fancy restaurant in Rochester is Lento, which focuses on seasonal and local foods.  They list the local farms they work with, and even hold events to connect diners with farmers.  And, even though they aren’t usually open on Sundays, they are open for Valentine’s Day (hint, hint, J). 

Where do you go for sustainable meals?

It PAINS me to write this review.  I am, after all, the person who made up her very own kitty litter recipe.  And that kitty litter is pretty darn good, if I do say so myself.  When Drew from World’s Best Cat Litter offered to send me a bag of litter to test out, I did warn him that I’m something of an expert.  I mean, for me to actually want to buy kitty litter it has to be markedly better than the stuff I make for about 3 cents worth of baking soda per batch.  So I was incredibly skeptical.  If I’m being completely honest, I kind of wanted it to fail.  But if I’m still being completely honest, I have to admit that it’s the best kitty litter my cat has ever used.

I’ve been using World’s Best Cat Litter in the cat’s litter box for three weeks now, and I have to say that it really does live up to the name. World’s Best Cat Litter is made from milled whole-kernel corn and is completely biodegradable.  It clumps! It’s flushable (make sure you’re cat is tested for water contaminating parasites before you flush kitty litter)! It controls odor REALLY well!  It’s not super dusty.  The cat doesn’t track it around the house all that much, but the little she does track gets picked up by the vacuum easily.  And the litter itself lasts a really long time – since you’re scooping, you just need to add a little new litter here and there without switching out the whole box every week like I have to do with homemade litter.

My cat took to it immediately – although that’s one area where she excels – she may be mean as all get out, but she’s very accommodating about changes in litter materials.  Since my cat had a urinary tract infection a few months ago, I appreciate that the litter is light enough in color that I would notice blood in the litter box if she got another infection.

World’s Best Cat Litter does come in a plastic bag, and it does cost more than 3 cents a batch, but I will admit it’s a lot more convenient than making your own, and a lot safer for your pet and easier on the environment than some of the conventional litters out there.  It also works better than the conventional litters that I used to use years ago.  I think World’s Best Cat Litter is a fantastic option for someone who doesn’t have the time to make their own litter, but still wants to use a clay litter alternative.  And I also have to admit (even though it’s really hard for me to!) that I plan to keep a bag on hand for when I don’t have the time to make my own.  Sheesh!

I wrote a post inspired by whaling on my personal blog last week and with your forbearance today, I’d like to follow that train of thought and, in the process, change my scientist’s hat for a philosopher’s.

Down on my side of the world, the sinking of the Sea Shepherd ship Ady Gil has received a lot of press and reignited the debate over Japanese whaling in the Southern Ocean.  Despite prohibitions put in place in the 1980’s by the International Whaling Commission, the Japanese have continued to hunt whales in the waters of Antarctica for ‘research purposes’ (read thinly veiled commercial whaling), much to the chagrin of environmental groups and the Australian and other governments.

Sea Shepherd is a fringe environmental group that confronts whaling vessels and seeks to stop them from killing whales using whatever means necessary. They’ve rammed whaling ships, used lasers to blind sailors, scuttled ships in harbour, and destroyed nets. The group self-identifies as environmental pirates and has been labeled as terrorists by Japanese whalers and Glenn Beck alike. However, the have become increasingly popular among many environmentally minded people, receiving celebrity and political endorsements from around the world.

Like most of you, I’m opposed to whaling for commercial or ‘research’ purposes. Cetaceans – whales, dolphins and porpoises – have relatively large brains and are thought by much of the scientific community to be among the most intelligent mammals. I’m not a fan of killing any animals, (although I am immersed in quite the ant war right now) but the slaying of very intelligent animals like primates and cetaceans is just abhorrent. But it is the methods that whalers use that I find most offensive.  When a whale is spotted, whalers pursue and fire a grenade harpoon at their prey. If the initial blast does not kill the animal, then a second harpoon may be fired or whalers shoot the animal with a rifle until it dies.  Greenpeace activists claim to have observed harpooned whales being dragged through the water until they drown.

I can see the appeal of Sea Shepherd. Frustrated by the lack of effective action taken by world governments and the international community to stop Japanese whaling they’ve taken the problem into their own hands. They are self-styled environmental pirates, with their ships flying the skull and crossbones. And they take the fight directly to the source, risking life and limb in the frigid Southern Ocean to directly interfere with the slaying of whales.

But I’m not sure that Sea Shepherd’s ends justify their means. The parallel that comes quickly to mind is the actions of extreme anti-abortion groups. Groups like the Army of God and the American Coalition of Life Activists have been directly or indirectly involved with vandalism, invasion or bombing of clinics that offer abortion services. Extreme anti-choice activists have murdered nine abortion providers or clinic staff since 1993. Sea Shepherd has not yet been responsible for any human deaths but both extreme anti-abortion and extreme anti-whaling advocates are taking an ‘any means necessary’ approach to stop a practice that they consider to be abhorrent. Why support one and condemn the other? Personally, I am sympathetic to Sea Shepherd but consider the Army of God to be a terrorist organization. But is that solely because of my personal political beliefs? I’m fairly sure that if we asked Glenn Beck he’d have a different opinion of both groups.

Beyond the ends versus means debate is an interesting thesis that one of my commentators brought up. I’ll let her remain anonymous as she fears nasty mail in her letterbox, but what if the (largely) white, (largely) Judeo-Christian Western environmental movement is attempting to impose its cultural norms on another society? Are Sea Shepherd and other environmental groups engaged in a type of cultural imperialism? Whaling has been a part of Japanese culture since the 12^th century. Then in 1982, fifteen Western nations proposed a ban on commercial whaling, a ban to which the Japanese strongly objected. Now, Japanese whalers are under constant pressure from environmental advocacy groups to change a practice that has been a part of their society for 800 years.

But what if the tables were turned? What if, just for argument’s sake, an Eastern religious group placed pressure on Western nations to keep their women covered, to impose the burka or hijab into American or Australian society?  How would we respond to that political pressure? Food for thought.

Enough from me, what do you think?

If I had a house and a lot of extra money (ah, it’s fun to dream), I’d totally put solar panels on my roof. I dream of having a place that relies exclusively on renewable energy. Wouldn’t it be great to be off the grid?

Unfortunately, even for people who do own houses and have some disposable income, solar panels are an expensive undertaking. I’m talking tens of thousands of dollars to get all that high-tech equipment installed on your roof. Sure, it’ll eventually pay for itself because you won’t be paying a power bill anymore, but the upfront cost is still prohibitive for most people.

But that’s slowly starting to change.

Lowe’s and Home Depot have begun to sell solar panels in stores. Designed for do-it-yourself installation, these solar panels have built-in inverters that can be plugged directly into a circuit breaker, meaning once they’re installed, you’ll start using solar power for part of your daily energy usage. One panel provides about 175 watts of electricity, and it would take about 20 of them to provide full power to an average-sized home.

So how much are they? Each panel costs $893, so if you’re looking to install 20 of them, yeah, you’re still going to pay a good chunk of change. But the beauty of these panels is that they can be installed individually, so you can build up the amount of solar power you’re using. The idea is to start with one or two, then add more panels as you can afford them.

What do you think of solar panels? Would you be likely to purchase one or more? Do you think this is going to become a hot-ticket item? Wouldn’t it be great if people gave each other solar panels for holiday presents? Or will this turn out to be something that just won’t catch on with the general public? Do share.

Petite Planet discovers that Agave Nectar may not be the wonder sweetener.

Earth First talks about turning E. coli into biofuel.

Fake Plastic Fish makes a plastic-free hot/cold pack.

The Good Human discusses environmental concerns in the wake of Haiti’s earthquake.

One Green Generation reviews an organic liqueur.

Condo Blues makes insulated window shades.

We’ve had several long freezing snaps in the mountains of Tennessee this winter. During the last one, which lasted about a week, I realized my wardrobe was seriously lacking in decent base layers that I could wear underneath my jeans and sweaters. I’ve been wearing the same pink Lands End long johns for about 15 years now. They’re warm and comfy and still fit, but they’re so thick they don’t fit very well under my skinny jeans. Because I knew we’d probably have a few more cold snaps and because I have a weeklong New York City trip later this month, I decided to invest in some new long undies this winter that would work under more than just my ski pants.

That’s when I fell in love with Patagonia’s Capilene line.

Capilene is a fabric made with at least 50 percent recycled polyester and is recyclable when you’re done with it. It wicks, it dries quickly, it’s super-thin but still super-warm. It moves naturally and washes easily in your washing machine. Patagonia makes it in four different weights, so you can have both silky thin items (like my new long johns) which are light enough to wear in warmer weather, and you can have some heavier items to wear on the outside. And ohhhh, the options. Lots for women, men and the kiddos too! The price is reasonable too. Sure, $40 is more than my Lands End circa 1995 long johns, but it’s a good price for quality material that you can recycle way down the road. If you shop around, you might find a deal or two like I did at my favorite outdoor goods store, Moosejaw.

It’s worth noting just how environmentally friendly Patagonia is, and it’s not just their Common Threads recycling program (which is awesome and takes Capilene, fleeces from various manufacturers and cotton Ts — info on how to recycle here). The company gives grant money to small, grass-roots environmental projects and groups, many of whom aren’t funded by any other major grants. Customers who visit Patagonia stores can cast votes for organizations who deserve to receive their grants. Patagonia is also working toward creating a national park in the Patagonia region of South America and throws its support behind The Conservation Alliance and One Percent for the Planet.

Patagonia, you’ve earned The Modern Gal’s longtime business, and I’ll definitely be visiting your retail store while I’m in NYC! (And you better believe I’ll have my Capilene pants on if it’s cold.

Over here at the Greenists I tend to cover the school angle. For me, the challenge of making things greener at the middle school where I work usually involves using technology to reduce the amount of paper we waste. Over the last five years I have campaigned for all of the faculty and staff to stop ripping through case after case of that white gold of schools: copy paper. When I tell you I see people on a DAILY BASIS making hundreds of copies, realizing there was a mistake on the original and then throwing away every single copy I am really not even kidding.

It gets kind of depressing.

If you would like your school district to stop wasting paper as well, here are a few ideas to suggest to your administration:

• Have the administrative assistants email attendance reports every morning rather than printing them out.
• Instead of having students print out papers they can save them to a shared folder on the school network.  That way, you can view and grade their work without having hard copies.
• If this is not possible, teach kids about the importance of Print Preview rather than printing five copies of a paper before they get it right.
• Project your directions on your white board or smart board rather than printing out individual sheets of directions for students.
• Encourage your administration to limit the amount of paper they put in the copy room on a daily basis.

My principal has commented that just by implementing these simple tips we’ve saved over $4,000 yearly on printer and copy paper. I was tempted to ask him when I’d be seeing that in a bonus check, but I managed to stop myself in time.

One more tip: principals do not like when you tease them about money.

You’re welcome.

Sometimes caring about the world makes me feel like a real jerk. Sure, my self-righteous fervor usually overcomes that with ease, but occasionally my convictions make me feel a bit uncomfortable. The best example of this I can think of is when I use the little folding card I keep in my wallet that tells me what seafood is okay to chow down on and what should be avoided, either due to overfishing of a particular species, personal health risks associated with high levels of mercury, or both.

The problem is this: I never eat out alone, so whipping out my trusty cheat sheet has the potential to ruin someone else’s meal, i.e. “Well dang! I was really looking forward to some Chilean sea bass!” Of course, this is an excellent opportunity to educate a fellow diner on the precariousness of the sea bass(real name: Patagonian toothfish) population, but I can’t help but feel like I’m spoiling someone else’s fun, ignorant fun though it may be.

The thing with seafood is, unless you are a fisheries biologist who keeps up with all the literature, you really do need a cheat sheet to keep up with what you should and shouldn’t eat from the ocean. The fact is, many ocean-going species and entire ecosystems are either on the verge of collapse due to overfishing or have already hurtled past the brink and yet, in many cases, the harvest continues unabated. And unless you are one of those fisheries biologists or the sort of person who carries reminders of what’s okay to eat in your wallet, you’d never know there was a problem because it’s about as out of sight as it gets, offshore and underwater.

That’s why, on a trip to Charleston, South Carolina this past weekend, I was very happy to see the logo of the Sustainable Seafood Initiative in the front windows of so many restaurants. The SSI is a local program dedicated to “the conservation of fishery resources and the use of locally and domestically caught seafood in restaurants.” They do this by collaborating with chefs throughout South Carolina to ensure that their menus feature only sustainably harvested fish. The chefs also specifically pledge to remove orange roughy, imported shark and Chilean sea bass, three dangerously imperiled species, from their menus.

And you can see why I think this is a good thing: The card stayed in my wallet and no one was tempted with that Patagonian toothfish. The restaurants we patronized, with the help of the SSI, figured all of that out for me so I could enjoy my shrimp and grits without imposing my silly environmental tendencies on anyone. In other words, these businesses made the right choices about their product before I even came through the door, freeing me to just eat myself stupid. Imagine that.

Of course, no matter what the folks selling us things might say and whatever stickers they put on the front door, we still need to pay attention to what we’re consuming, so whether you live in a place like Charleston or not, a little pocket guide can go a long way toward helping you choose the right seafood to put on your plate. Get yours from Seafood Watch. Two other good sources of information on sustainable seafood are the Marine Stewardship Council and Oceana.

As you know, tax season is upon us. I used to love doing my taxes, back when things were simpler and I got a refund check in the mail. It was like Christmas! Now, thanks to my multiple freelance writing/editing jobs that make me pay Uncle Sam in one lump sum, I now lose a lot of money at tax time, which makes it … well, like Christmas.

But that’s not the point of this post. The point is to inform you about how being green, once again, can help add a little padding to your wallet — this time in the form of tax credits.

Making energy-efficient improvements to your home can be expensive, but those costs can be offset if you file for a tax credit. The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act makes it possible for homeowners to get back 30% of the cost of qualifying home improvements, with a cap of $1,500. Qualifying improvements include added insulation, energy-efficient exterior windows, and heating and air-conditioning systems.

How can you make sure if your improvement projects qualify for the credit? They have to have been made in 2009 if you’re going to claim the credit now — projects done in 2010 will have to be claimed during tax season 2011. It’s up to the manufacturer to certify a product for the credit, which means you must save your receipts and certification statement from the day you purchased your new water heater, for example.

Just because something is Energy Star-rated doesn’t necessarily mean it’s going to qualify for the credit, so look carefully when you’re shopping around.

If you’ve gone big with your energy efficient projects — to the tune of a wind energy system, solar water heater, or a geothermal heat pump — there’s another credit in store for you. You can get back 30% of the cost of those projects, including what you paid for installation and site preparation. There is no cap on the amount you can receive.

There may also be a tax credit in store for you if you drive a hybrid or plug-in electric vehicle — but not all of them. The credit phases out after the manufacturer sells 60,000 hybrids. If you bought a fuel-efficient car in 2009, check with your dealer to see if you’re eligible for a credit.

Inhabitat says H&M and other brands are guilty of organic cotton fraud.

Follow The Reader discusses environmentally sustainable publishing.

Haute Nature talks about concrete made from hemp.

Fake Plastic Fish has 8 reasons that personal changes matter.

The Daily Green weighs the benefits and costs of fracking (not the B-star kind).

The Good Human found an iPhone app that allows you to be an Eco-Snoop.  Would you use it?

In unrelated news, I have a new website for STAY!  Please stop by at AllieLarkinWrites.com.