The Power of Choices

Stop eating meat & dairy to save the planet. Really. Science* says so.

2010-06-28T16:57:00.000-07:00

Researchers of the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research have found that reducing the consumption of meat and dairy products and improving agricultural practices could decrease global greenhouse gas emissions substantially. By 2055 the emissions of methane and nitrous oxide from agriculture could be cut by more than eighty percent, to levels below those of 1995, if demand for "livestock products" (i.e., meat and dairy) decreases by 25% over each decade from 2015 to 2055.

Early in June, even before the results of this study were published, the UN issued a report suggesting that "a global shift towards a vegan diet is vital to save the world from hunger, fuel poverty and the worst impacts of climate change."

In a study published today in the peer-reviewed journal, Global Environmental Change, climate impact researchers modeled the impact of future changes in food consumption and technological mitigation of agricultural greenhouse gas emissions on the effect on climate in a scenario over the next 45 years, to 2055. The global model combined information on world population, income, food demand, and production costs with environmental data on potential crop yields. The calculations show that global agricultural greenhouse gas emissions (e.g., methane and nitrous oxide) increase significantly until 2055 if food energy consumption and diet preferences remain constant at 1995 levels. However, the agricultural emissions of greenhouse gases have increased steadily over time, and show no sign of slowing down. In fact, in 2005 they accounted for "14% of the total anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions." Assuming world dietary preferences continue to shift towards animal-based foods, i.e., meat and milk, in regions and countries that have typically not favored these food sources, emissions will rise even more.

To gain an idea of how one person's food choices impact the climate, I consulted The Nature Conservancy's Carbon Footprint Calculator. As a baseline, "in 2004, the United States emitted 7074 million metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent green house gases. This equals approximately 27 tons per person." An "average" American's carbon emissions from diet, calculated only on the basis of a predominantly meat-based, non-organic diet alone, is 4.1 tons of CO2 and carbon-equivalent emissions a year. When I changed the selections to more accurately reflect my diet, or the diet of any "average" vegan or vegetarian, ("I eat meat in my diet... never" and "I eat organic food... most of the time") the CO2 and carbon-equivalent emissions decreased to 0.6 tons per year, 85% below average. The cumulative power of vegans and vegetarians to positively effect the environment is easy to calculate, even if you're not great at math. Playing with the calculator is fun, and informative. Even simply reducing meat intake to "Rarely" from "Most days" and taking the middle road with respect to organics, "I eat it sometimes" reduces individual emissions (again, from diet alone) to 1.3 tons per year, 69% below average.

If you're curious about how the calculator actually works, this gives a very detailed explanation of how your carbon footprint is calculated. The following excerpt about "Food and Diet" outlines the impact one person's meat-heavy, non-organic diet has on greenhouse gas emissions in very clear terms.

"Average: Agricultural activity (crop, land, and animal including management, and including farm vehicles) accounts for 7% of all greenhouse gas emissions in the United States, with 91% of that being from methane and nitrous oxide emissions.
Behaviors: Vegan and vegetarian diets emit 72% and 42% less than the typical American diet, respectively. A heavy meat diet emits 24% more than the average. For the organic food responses, "Most of the time" reduces your emissions by 29%, "Sometimes" reduces emissions by 15%, and "Never or rarely" is the average emissions figure."

It's pretty clear that every small choice makes an incremental, yet measurably cumulative effect on the environment, and for our future. Something to think about the next time you're in the grocery store. Start small: eschew the hamburger for a veggie burger once in a while.

*Source: Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) (2010, June 28). Conscious choice of food can substantially mitigate climate change, research finds. ScienceDaily.

How Much Oil Has Leaked Into the Gulf of Mexico?

2010-06-11T19:25:00.000-07:00

It's an incomprehensible amount, but this real-time ticker (source: PBS) gives one some idea of the rapidity of which entire ecosystems are being killed. It is easy to feel helpless and hopeless in the face of this massive disaster, but now more than ever, is the time to do something about it. Politicians and big oil are playing the blame game, and the liability for this spill is already spinning out into a very complicated legal web which will no doubt result in one of the largest, probably most protracted legal battle in history. However, more important than who will pay monetary damages is to acknowledge that the earth, and by extension, we who inhabit earth, will suffer damages that are only going to get worse. It's critical to stop this continual gushing and more importantly, ensure it never happens again.

No other country consumes more oil than America. America consumes the majority (more than 20%) of the world's oil, but has less than two percent of the world's oil reserves. We need to reduce, if not eliminate entirely, our "oil addiction," and pour our efforts into developing clean, sustainable methods to power our lives. If our earth becomes an uninhabitable wasteland, it won't really matter who cashes out at the end of the day, or who lands in jail as a result of gross negligence. Ultimately, we all will pay.

It's hard to remember, but before healthcare reform and related hoopla took over the country's attention last summer, the House had passed "the most sweeping climate change policy ever considered by Congress." The bill aimed to incrementally cap America's production of greenhouse gases, reducing it by 83% by 2050, mandating that 15% of the nation's electricity come from renewable sources such as wind and solar power by 2020, and investing in renewable energies and sustainable technologies. The effort in the Senate stalled last fall. When the Copenhagen climate summit came and went, with disappointing, diffident results, by the start of the year, climate legislation seemed to have reached a standstill if not taken several slides back.

With the Gulf oil spill gushing (it's still going! yet it started at the end of April. April!), President Obama began pushing publicly once again for an energy and climate bill. And in the aftermath of the spill, polls show that most Americans support strong actions to reform climate legislation.

Yet, a vote in the Senate this week suggests bleak prospects for any climate legislation change. The issue was a GOP proposal to strip the Environmental Protection Agency of its ability to regulate greenhouse gases. While that resolution (thankfully) failed by a vote of 47-53, the narrow gap demonstrates that even in the wake of the massive oil spill, Congress still remains divided over how best to address climate change.

This is unfathomable to me; we couldn't ask for a more violent wake-up call for change than this oil spill. At least, I don't want to imagine one. Now, more than ever, it is critical to take a stand, make your voice heard, and contact your Senator, urging him or her to vote in favor of a change to support new, renewable clean energy. In addition to writing and calling your Senators and Representatives, you can add your name in support of President Obama's clean energy plan, and sign this petition (via MoveOn.org), which will be sent to the White House and Congress, demanding an end to America's addiction to oil.

Turn it Off Everyday - Inspired by the 4th Annual Earth Hour, 2010

2010-03-27T18:44:00.000-07:00

Turn off the lights and join nearly 1 billion others in saving energy to raise awareness about energy consumption - during the fourth annual Earth Hour, March 27, 2010 at 8:30 pm - your time zone, wherever you are.

It's hard to imagine that something as easy as turning off your lights could have a real impact in combating climate change, but that’s the idea behind Earth Hour, a global event sponsored by the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) designed to highlight the importance of energy conservation in the fight against global warming.

More than 1 billion participants on March 27 will help stage what has become a visually stunning event: People around the world, including whole cities and national monuments, will come together to make a bold statement about their concern for climate change by doing something quite simple—turning off their lights for one hour.

Participation is easy. By turning off the lights for an hour, starting at 8:30 p.m., on March 27, know that you are participating in a global movement that for that brief period of time, signals your commitment to combating climate change, even if it's just in your own home. If you missed Earth Hour, it's not too difficult to consciously integrate the concept into your daily life. Why not reduce the temperature in your house and put on a sweater instead? Make sure you turn off lights in rooms you're not using, and DEFINITELY unplug those unused appliances. Turning them off is not enough, especially for "transformers" - anything that has a large, black box on it, sometimes with a light. Those transformers suck about as much electricity when the appliances (computers, cell phones, etc.) they charge aren't in use as when they are. The amount of passive energy drain (or "standby loss") from unused plugged-in appliances and chargers is astounding. For example, approximately 23% of the total electricity used by a TV is from standby loss.

A study conducted by the American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy found that leaking electricity from normal household appliances estimated for normal use across homes in the United States could light 25,984,000 homes. In addition, to really hit the point home, passive energy loss from appliances in all homes across America is responsible for more than 6 million metric tons of U.S. carbon emissions. For more specific numbers on energy loss per appliance, see this chart.

From the WWF website: "Last year’s participants made some bold statements in support of the movement. In Peru, the population woke on the morning of March 28, 2009 to see the national El Comercio newspaper with an entirely black front page, and it wasn't because the ink had run. Instead, it was a way for the nation’s most prominent daily newspaper to issue a call to action on climate change for Earth Hour." (Although the amount of ink wasted to run entirely black front pages was not, apparently, considered).

For some dramatic pictures of Earth Hour, 2010:

Seattle Space Needle (an iPhone photo from my living room window):

See more pictures of Earth Hour 2010 via The Huffington Post.

To learn more about how to participate, get more information on the environmental impact of energy conservation, or to find out how you can support the WWF’s eco efforts, visit EarthHour.org.

Using The Vernal Equinox As A Time of Balance

2010-03-20T18:36:00.000-07:00

Today, March 20, is the first day of the solar new year, otherwise known as the vernal equinox, the first day of spring and one of two days each year when the hours of daylight and nighttime are equally long. The word "equinox" actually derives from the Latin aequus (equal) and nox (night). As the earth's angle of inclination towards the sun changes throughout the year, lengthening or shortening the days according to hemisphere and season, there are two times a year when day and night are of nearly equal length: the spring and autumn equinoxes. These celestial times have been recognized for thousands of years among all cultures and have given rise to a significant body of seasonal folklore and ritualistic traditions. Across all cultures and spanning centuries, spring is celebrated as a time of renewal as lengthening sun-warmed days take the place of the short, dark and cold days of winter.

Though there are many superstitious beliefs around the equinox, one of the most prominent is that you can stand a raw egg on its end on this day, and this day alone. Apparently this phenomenon has been attributed to the "special gravitational forces" that arise due to the sun's equidistant position between the poles of the earth at the time of the equinox.

It's not true. You can stand a raw egg on its end anytime.

However, the principle that a feat of precarious balance can most easily be achieved on this day got me to thinking about the principle of balance and the notion of integrating more balance into our daily lives. What better time to start than on the vernal equinox, in spring, when the planet is most astronomically "in balance"?

Hasn't the quest for "balance" become a constant refrain in our hectic 21st century, techno-driven, globalized world? The numbers on a clock mean very little now, with the ability to communicate 24 hours a day with people in time zones on the other side of the earth. Yet, people are forever striving for "work-life balance" even as they work more hours, blur lines between work and home, and utilize mobile and wireless technologies to stay "connected anytime, anywhere." As a result, people become mentally, physically, and emotionally drained and exhausted, throwing themselves even more out of whack as a result.

Spring, specifically the vernal equinox, is the perfect time to reassess the balance (or imbalances) in your life and take stock of areas in your life that you need to replenish and renew, and reduce those that are depleting and draining. If the unfolding events in most days seem to direct (and maybe overtake) you, it can be nearly impossible to even think about how to refocus and redirect your energy. Here are five simple ideas to help get you started on rebalancing... These are things I have integrated into my life that I have found help me regain a sense of balance and equanimity.

1) Spend a few seconds focusing on your breath. Note I didn't say "minutes" - just spend the "seconds" it takes to count just 10 breaths. I find that before I do anything else in the morning, focusing on my breath helps me focus my mind before I have to get up and face the day. Often, this simple act helps me to plan for, and subsequently approach the course of my day with a feeling of control and enthusiasm. Whenever you focus on your breathing, you're in the present moment. And what is balance if not being fully present in the moment? Focus on your breath anytime throughout the day, particularly in moments you feel stressed, anxious, tense, bored, or overwhelmed.

2) Plan and cook one meal a week. Think carefully about what you would like to eat, how it will taste, nourish your body, and energize you. Plan it out and take the time to prepare it from scratch. It doesn't matter if it's a simple salad, a pot of pasta, or a five-course meal. Just plan it out and "cook with love." I used to never cook. Now I cook meals from scratch four, sometimes five nights a week. I feel so much more connected to flavors, innovation and creativity, and my body. Not to mention, I have become a pretty awesome cook, if I do say so myself.

3) Spend some time outside each day. I know I can become fully "tunneled" into the virtual world of my computer screen, and find entire hours have completely slipped away. Whenever this happens, I usually find that along with the disappearing time, my neck and back have stiffened and cramped, my head is swimming, and my vision has blurred. These are all signs that it's time to physically get outside into the real world and inhale some fresh air. Connecting with nature has been shown to have a direct impact on people's moods and productivity. And not just when it's sunny, which for me, is a hard pill to swallow. But I try to get out, even when it's raining, or worse.

4) Get some exercise. Exercise is a natural mood-lifter, depression-antidote, fitness-enhancer, etc. We have all heard the benefits, yet many people still feel as though they don't have the time to fit a half-hour of exercise into their day. It's easy if you can integrate this with #3 above! Get outside a couple of times a day: go for a walk to grab your lunch, walk or bike to and from work if possible, walk your dog, plant a garden (hey, it's spring after all!), hike a trail - all of these are very viable forms of exercise that will also have you soaking up some Vitamin D from the sun and absorbing the benefits of fresh air and green space around you!

5) Express gratitude. Psychology research has shown that one's level of happiness is very stable over the long-term, regardless of external events. That means that whether a person won the lottery or suffered a paralyzing accident, that person will return to their usual baseline level of happiness in approximately three to six months. It's not what happens to you in your life that makes you a happy (or miserable) person; it's your internal frame of mind. If you're a pessimist, reading this probably didn't do anything to raise your hopes of happiness.

However, one thing that can increase overall levels of happiness permanently is through consciously expressing thanks (yes, even for die-hard pessimists). A leader in the relatively new field of positive psychology, Dr. Robert Emmons, discusses the "psychology of gratitude" in his new book, Thanks, as well as his more academic text, The Psychology of Gratitude (Series in Affective Science). Emmons conducted an experiment in which he asked people to either 1) record things that they were grateful for, 2) record neutral events with neither a positive nor negative attribution, or 3) write down events that annoyed, angered, or upset them. The three groups did this once a week for ten weeks, and those who were in the "gratitude group" were 25% happier at the end of the study than when they started the study, and happier than those who recorded either neutral events or, the group that fared the worst, those who wrote down things they were annoyed or upset by. "People in the gratitude condition were more optimistic about the future, they felt better about their lives, and they even did almost 1.5 more hours of exercise a week." Research has shown that the content of the event a person is grateful for is much less important than simply feeling grateful.

Of course, taking time out each day to -- breathe, walk outside, prepare and eat food, and say thank you -- may be too overwhelming to consider packing into an already full schedule.

...Or perhaps not. Taking the time for these obvious necessities of life may be just the first small steps to a more realigned - and balanced - life.

Eating: Caution Ahead: Massive food recall of processed foods!

2010-03-11T19:53:00.001-08:00

Amidst the head-spinning nonsensical food labels that normally cause us to stand, frozen in the dairy case, debating the relative safety and moral high ground of "cage-free" vs. "free-range" (hint: neither mean much), a massive food recall has quietly taken place over the past couple of weeks.

Are you aware that the FDA's recall of foods containing HVP, or hydrolyzed vegetable protein, originating last week, may become the largest food recall in history? I wasn't. I only became aware of this yesterday, when apparently the recall wave swept Pringles along too, ensuring that this would not go unnoticed.

First, why should you care?
Because hydrolyzed vegetable protein (HVP) is in thousands of food products.

More specifically, HVP is a "flavor enhancer" for processed foods, and is found in products that run the gamut from soup to nuts, literally. HVP is in chips to dips, packaged burritos, prepared entrees including pasta and vegetarian tofu dinners, salad dressings, prepared salads, cheese, and hot dogs.

Second, what the heck is HVP?
Here's a picture of its chemical structure!

Hmm, it appears that hydrolyzed vegetable protein is really just MSG. Not exactly, though the chemical explanation around the relationship between the two is rather convoluted. For all practical purposes, HVP and MSG might as well be one and the same. HVP is made by breaking soybeans, corn, or wheat into amino acids through a chemical process. One of these amino acids is glutamic acid, which in its salt form is known as monosodium glutamate, or MSG. According to the FDA, if the glutamic acid in a food binds to a free source of sodium in that food it can form MSG - but this doesn't require labeling the product as containing MSG. That's only required if MSG is added directly. (Is HVP MSG? Not technically, but it's created like it, used like it and can result in it, and as such, can be a hidden source of MSG.)

Why the recall?
Because of contamination with salmonella. "Salmonella Tennessee," to be exact. On March 4th, the FDA announced an overarching recall of many of these products containing this HVP, which is made by Basic Food Flavors, Inc. in Nevada. The recall dates to products manufactured since September 17, 2009, which is a lot of food.

The products are too numerous to list here, but this is a continually updated list by the FDA of recalled products. I must admit to just quickly scanning the list because in general, I try to avoid processed foods, and for anything that does come in a package, I try to ensure there are less than 5 ingredients (and that I recognize - and can pronounce - all of them). However, I have read that HVP is usually not specifically named outright among ingredient lists on packages, but because it is derived from soy, corn, or wheat, HVP is usually disguised in the ingredient list as the very innocuous sounding "natural flavors" or "flavor enhancer."

To me, the most salient question arising from this most recent food recall is what are the possible health effects of ingesting this manufactured artificial ingredient? In a book entitled "Grocery Warning" written by consumer health advocate Mike Adams in 2006, HVP is listed as a potential hidden source of MSG, which is recognized as an excitotoxin. Chemical additives with excitotoxic properties can directly affect neurons (nerve cells), overexciting them to the point of cell death. Dr. Russell Blaylock, a neurosurgeon and author of "Excitotoxins: The Taste That Kills," explored the link between MSG and other excitotoxin food additives including aspartame, mercury, and aluminum and their deleterious effects on human neurology. Blaylock claims that there is growing evidence that excitotoxins are a major cause of degenerative brain diseases including Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, Huntington's ALS, and multiple sclerosis.

Of course, there are skeptics of this viewpoint; after all, the FDA has deemed artificial food additives and other chemicals like MSG, HVP, TVP (textured vegetable protein - a major ingredient in many vegetarian prepared foods such as veggie burgers and veggie "meats"), aspartame, and other "flavor enhancers" as perfectly safe for human consumption. I find it rather ironic that these processed foods, little more than chemical constructions of artificial preservatives, fake flavors, thickeners, and texturizers, are being recalled for the health hazard of bacterial contamination when the damage to one's health becomes much more pervasive and insidious through the consistent ingestion of these so-called "foods."

Note: If you're interested in the events that led up to the recall, read NYU professor Marion Nestle's entry about it in her "Food Politics" blog. In addition, this is the Washington Post story that broke the news about the recall.

<----------- mmmm... yummy! bon appetit!

A week of eating in - An experience in culinary consciousness

2010-02-22T19:36:00.000-08:00

Huffington Post Green, one of the top 5 websites I visit daily, has issued a challenge to its readers: "The Week of Eating In" starting today: Monday, February 22. Now, eating at home for a whole week may not sound like that big of a challenge; however, the typical day in the food-life of an American often consists of: no breakfast, or perhaps a hastily purchased coffee and danish from Starbucks, a quick run to the deli for lunch, a vending machine snack, and rushing to get home with no time to cook, maybe a quick drive through the drive-thru or pulling out a frozen dinner to throw in the microwave. We celebrate the weekend by making drinks plans with friends, and then make reservations at a favorite restaurant or two for Friday and Saturday nights.

I have to admit, when I lived in New York City, the thought of preparing a meal in my miniscule kitchen with nothing more than a sliver of formica that constituted "counter space" filled me with dread. I nearly resorted to using my oven for additional shoe storage, as Carrie Bradshaw did in Sex and the City... except I needed it to heat up takeout. I'm kind of embarrassed to admit that I can probably count the times I prepared "real" food (from scratch) on two hands during the entire decade I lived there. Braving the mayhem of the markets, cracking open a cookbook, juggling cutting boards on that aforementioned counter-sliver, and dealing with all of the cleanup (dishwasher? in that kitchen? ha!) sounded like unnecessary sado-masochism, and I avoided the whole brouhaha at all costs. Plus, in a city where any restaurant would deliver to your door almost 24 hours a day, (almost) no one I knew cooked at home.

Since living in Seattle and having more time on my hands as well as a significantly larger and more user-friendly kitchen to work in, I have become much more proficient at cooking meals at home. I usually cook four days a week, and I really do "cook," rather than "heat up." I prepare all of my foods from scratch with fresh (occasionally frozen) produce and fish. Whole Foods is two blocks away from where I live and Pike Place Market, the largest and most famous daily farmers market in the country, is just a few blocks down the street. As a result, I have tried to emulate the European market methods by shopping for food almost every other day, which ensures the produce and fish I use are as fresh as possible. I have grown to love buying bread that was baked fresh that day from the local bakery, fish that was caught that morning in nearby Alaskan waters, and seasonal produce that was picked as recently as yesterday from a nearby farm.

I like the experiment for the following reasons:

When you don't cook what you eat, it is so much easier to be disconnected from what it actually is and what it contains (typically, there are much more fattening ingredients in restaurant foods, and portion sizes are HUGE!)
Personally, I'm hoping to try out some new recipes and challenge myself further - to actually shop more often at Pike Place Market and get to know some of the growers, acquaint myself with the changing produce and fish, and create inspired dishes out of what I happened to find freshest and most beautiful that day at the market.
I'm admittedly a little curious about tracking cost per meal when cooking this way vs. eating out. I actually suspect it's not that much cheaper, because I kind of have a penchant for fine ingredients and all-things organic, but I've never actually compared these costs before (and I've read that it's cheaper to buy and cook your own organic food than to eat out).
Cooking can be empowering, and the act of cooking requires mindfulness, depending on how one approaches the act. As the old, oft-quoted Zen saying goes: "Wash the dishes when you are washing the dishes." Staying in the moment and fully immersing oneself in the experience - of chopping, washing, stirring, sauteeing - can create a rhythmic meditative state and affects consciousness, which, according to Ayurvedic medicine, among other traditions, influences the resulting dish (in good ways). We'll see.

For more information, or to participate, see The Week of Eating In: A HuffPost Green and Eyes and Ears Challenge

I'll post my results and the recipes I used, after the week is over. If you choose to join me, I welcome your comments and recipes too!

Science has spoken: Blowing up mountain tops is bad for mountains. Help end the madness!

2010-02-18T19:38:00.000-08:00

Today, bloggers are banding together in a response to a "Social Media Call to Action" to bring attention to the current terrible practice of mountaintop removal mining and its financing, dominated largely by JP Morgan Chase. Rainforest Action Network are the organizers behind the effort and outline ways in which we can effect change to put an end to this practice.

In an article published in the January 8, 2010 issue of Science, one of the world's most respected peer-reviewed scientific journals, twelve scientists from institutions around the country outlined the significant human health and ecological impacts of mountaintop coal mining (the current practice in which Appalachian peaks are blasted off to obtain coal, rather than older strip mining or seam mining methods), and conclude by calling for a ban on the practice.

In the most comprehensive study on the effects of mountaintop removal coal mining to date, the paper describes how the resulting pollutants get dumped into the surrounding valleys and streams, obliterating the ecosystem. In addition: "Adult hospitalizations for chronic pulmonary disorders and hypertension are elevated as a function of county-level coal production, as are rates of mortality; lung cancer; and chronic heart, lung, and kidney disease." The illnesses and increase in mortality includes women and children, so the incidence "...is not simply a result of the direct occupational exposure of predominantly male coal miners."

The conclusion of the paper states: "...The science is so overwhelming that the only conclusion one can reach is that mountaintop mining needs to be stopped."

If mountaintop removal sounds bad, but difficult to fully imagine, watching the following video of the practice and its resulting effects will convince you of just how terrible this practice is for our environment, not to mention how senselessly inefficient. To use Stephen Colbert's analogy (seen in the video at the bottom of this post), this practice of obtaining coal from mountains is akin to filling a cavity by blasting off the top of the skull and drilling through the brain. There is most certainly a better way to obtain energy than to obliterate our beautiful 300 billion year old mountains and all of the life that's supported by them.

What can you do? A LOT....! In addition to signing up at Rainforest Action Network and adding your name to the list of thousands who oppose mountaintop removal mining, I recommend the following:

1) Use this form on the Sierra Club website to tell the White House Council on Environmental Quality that no more mountaintop mining permits should be issued (the website address is: action.sierraclub.org/mtrscience)
2) Sign the petition at EarthJustice.org to tell Congress to pass the Clean Water Protection Act, which would protect our waters from being filled with millions of tons of waste from mountaintop removal mining.
3) Forward these two forms to everyone you know and urge them to take a minute (it only takes one!) to add their name to these petitions
4) Learn more about this practice and what you can do about it at: http://www.ilovemountains.org/
5) Forward this post to anyone and everyone you know to help spread the word about this destructive practice and that with enough grassroots action, we can help end this madness.

For an entertaining take on the subject, Stephen Colbert interviewed the lead author of the paper, Dr. Margaret Palmer, in his inimitably incisive way, and highlights the lunacy of the current practice:

The Colbert Report

Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c

Coal Comfort - Margaret Palmer

www.colbertnation.com

Colbert Report Full Episodes

Political Humor

Skate Expectations

Spreading the Sunshine, Spreading the Love!

2010-02-16T21:29:00.000-08:00

This Sunshine award was given to me by Radiance Within, of Watchful Eyes, Thoughtful Mind. It is a great honor and compliment to be recognized in this way. Thank you so much Radiance!

This award gives each recognized blogger an opportunity to pass the award on to other great bloggers whom they might like to call attention to.

The rules for accepting the Sunshine Award are:

Put the logo on your blog or within your post.
Pass the award on to 12 bloggers who bring sunshine into your life.
Link the nominees within your post.
Let your nominees know they have received this award by commenting on their blog.
Share the love and link to the person from whom you received this award.

I am passing this award to the following 12 bloggers, from whose blogs I always learn something or feel inspired by. It's a motley crew covering the gamut from the environment, to psychology, social media, technology, travel, science, and food. But such are my interests: diverse and disparate, yet all are interconnected. You'll definitely want to check out their sites:

1. The EcoSpheric Blog - Just a great blog about all things dedicated to living more sustainably. Plus, she's based where I grew up! Gotta love Coloradoans!
2. Treebanker's Blog - All about the disappearing rainforests and how to take action: we CAN replant 250 million acres of Rainforests in the next 11 years.

3. The GreenMan's Grove - a fellow nature-lover and tireless defender of Mother Earth - he discusses issues related to the earth, nature, paganism, news, and other interesting tidbits.
4. Artemis in the City Blog - Danielle is a certified holistic health counselor and natural whole foods chef who helps people reclaim their health through the healing power of natural foods, and she writes about healing foods, as well as foods to avoid.

5. Ulterior Motives - written by Art Markman, a former grad school professor of mine at Columbia, his blog for Psychology Today is chock-full of really fascinating research and findings on how goals drive behavior.

6. McGee's Musings - Academic and thought-provoking practical discussions on Enterprise 2.0 technology and business, organizational change, and the impact of social media in all of the above. I always learn something new whenever I check Jim's blog.

7. TravelEco - Blog by "Eco Hotels of the World" there are some great ideas for eco-friendly travel destinations, hotels, gadgets, and general information on traveling responsibly.

8. Notes From the Road - Just about the most beautiful travel blog out there that I've seen. Gorgeous writing and photography, for armchair travelers, as well as providing constant inspiration to hit the road. The choices are endless.

9. Green Options - This is actually a community and network of blogs dedicated to all things green. I've deliberately chosen to include small, and/or individually-written blogs, with the exception of this one, which is simply a fantastic aggregate resource.
10. Neha Ayurvedic Life Spa - A new blog that is already lovely, inspiring and full of great information for those interested in Ayurvedic medicine and natural health.
11. Five Minutes For Going Green - A really clean and well-organized blog with a team of writers, each taking a separate "category" dedicated to the green-o-sphere. The posts are short, simple, and easy to follow: every small step, 5 minutes at a time, does make a difference!

12. The Confident Copywriter - Victoria's blog is a very useful resource for any writer, freelancer, or independent contractor. She's built a very strong community through engaging the fellow copywriters, bloggers, freelancers, and the like in lively dialogue.

Now: with more USDA regulation! The shocking truth about your "organic" milk/dairy products

2010-02-12T15:51:00.000-08:00

The other day, after I wrote about how non-organic milk is a terrible thing to put into your body (among other things), I was patting myself on the back for never having even looked at a non-organic carton of milk for years. But then when I got out the gallon of organic, non-RBGH milk to go with my chocolate chip cookie (can't seem to cut those out of my otherwise healthy diet...), I noticed some fine print on the bottom of the label that I've never bothered to read before: "*Our milk is made from cows not treated with rBGH. The FDA has said there is no significant difference between milk from cows treated with rBGH and untreated cows. No test can now distinguish between milk from treated and untreated cows." I suddenly shivered. Or maybe that was from standing in front of the open fridge. Whether I was having a paranoid reaction or not, I felt that the manufacturer was hinting subtly, or not-so-subtly, at a possible deception that they (or other "organic milk" manufacturers) may or may not be engaging in.

This is my translation of each sentence:
1) Our milk is made from cows not treated with rBGH. = Assuming 365 Organic (Whole Foods' private organic label) is not outright lying in their first statement, their cows are not treated with rBGH, which implies other cows might be.
2) The FDA has said there is no significant difference between milk from cows treated with rBGH and untreated cows. = The FDA "concluded that rBGH presents no increased health risk to consumers" [and approved it for use in 1993]. However, this declaration proved highly controversial, and opponents of the drug argued that the effects of rBGH were never properly assessed. In 1998, a study by Canada's equivalent of the FDA, Health Canada, recommended that the studies be replicated before rBGH would be approved in Canada. However, as of today, the European Union, Japan, Australia and Canada have all banned the use of rBGH due to animal and human health concerns.
3) No test can now distinguish between milk from treated and untreated cows. = Irrespective of whether or not rBGH has any effect on humans, as a human, there's no definitive way of being assured you're drinking rBGH-free milk aside from trusting that your milk manufacturer is telling the truth. Apparently, rBGH-positive [if you will] cows don't test positive.

My interest was piqued enough to investigate this milk controversy further, and ah-HA, my timing was right-on! This morning, a very timely news report hit my twitter feed: "New USDA Rules Establish Strong Organic Standards for Dairy Cows and Other Livestock."

Apparently, the family farms of America have been lobbying the government for over 10 years to institute more stringent regulations around the grazing and pasturing of dairy cows and other livestock. Why? Because a number of mega-dairies, or illegitimate factory farms, who have blatantly abused the "organic" label by confining thousands of animals in feed lots and barns are able to produce very cheap organically-labeled milk against which the ethical, small-production family farms can't compete.

Although there have been a number of investigations into the alleged violations of organic livestock management practices on many of the 20 largest factory farm facilities, the biggest scandal centered around one investigation in which the regulators found “willful” violations of 14 organic regulations on factory farms operated by Aurora Dairy, a $100+ million company based in Colorado, which produces private-label, store brand milk for Wal-Mart, Costco and large grocery chains, as well as investigations into alleged improprieties by the largest organic milk producer in the country, Horizon Organic (by Dean Foods).

The new regulations "...require that dairy cows and other ruminants be out on pasture for the entire growing season, but for not less than 120 days. It also requires that the animals receive at least 30% of their feed, or dry matter intake (DMI), from pasturing. In addition, organic livestock will be required to have access to the outdoors year-round..." Read more here.

Most importantly, “These minimum benchmarks will assure consumers that industrial-scale dairies don’t just create the ‘illusion’ of grazing and continue producing illegitimate organic milk.”

The basic lesson here is: you get what you pay for. If your organic milk, cheese, yogurt or other dairy product was: "...such a great deal! As cheap as or almost as cheap as regular" it is highly likely that it was not in fact, organic.

The good news is that "over 90% of all name brand organic dairy products are produced with high integrity." Cornucopia Institute, the farm policy research group representing family farms, has a consistently updated "brand scorecard" for all of the organic labels, in which each brand is given a score based on the aggregation of detailed ratings such as disclosure of information, amount of time cows are spent on pasture, antibiotics used, hormones used, oversight and processing.

I'm happy to report that Whole Foods 365 Organic brand gets a "4 Cows" rating or "Excellent" as determined by the Cornucopia Institute. Notably, with respect to Whole Foods' private-label brand as compared to other brands (e.g., Wal-Mart, Costco, others): "It is impressive that over 90% of all name-brand organic dairy marketers fully participated in the Cornucopia research study permitting their customers to understand how their products are produced. Unfortunately, 0% of private-label marketers (store brands) were initially willing to participate. Whole Foods Market should be applauded as the first retailer willing to be transparent with their private-label products."

To see how your favorite brand of organic milk fares, simply point your mouse at Cornucopia Institute's BRAND SCORECARD and scan the list: it's organized from top rated producers to the lowest, with additional details. In addition, you can search (Control-F, or Find) for brand(s) carried in your local store.

*Image Source: www.mindfully.org

Even though it's snowing on the East Coast, sorry, climate change is still happening

2010-02-11T15:47:00.000-08:00

It's disturbing to me that something as ever-present and non-controversial as the weather has become such a divisive tool in politics. Because the east coast, and Washington D.C. in particular, has suffered a massive winter storm this week, many climate change deniers have been using this circumscribed occurrence as gleeful evidence that global warming has been disproved (or has been a hoax all along). It is pure pigheaded ignorance to blatantly ignore science, as so many of these deniers are doing. And to what end? We all inhabit the same earth... if there is one issue on which all of humankind should be in agreement about it should be to protect and nurture the only home we have.

Thinking weather patterns through rationally and calmly, it is clear that an overall increase in the earth's temperature leads to warmer temperatures overall, and one "unusual" weather incidence in one location does not disprove a pervasive and global phenomenon. Mild temperatures and the effects of El Nino in the winter leads to increased evaporation of surface water, which leads to more water in the air. More water in the air leads to massive storms, including rains, and when the temperature drops below freezing, snow. Indeed, increased volatility and variability in weather patterns and cycles is one of the effects of climate change, leading to periods of extreme heat and extreme cold.

NASA has shown that 2009 was the second warmest year in modern record (2005 was the warmest), and that January 2000 to December 2009 was the warmest decade in the past 2000 years. The chart below (source: www.cru.uea.ac.uk/cru/info/warming/) shows average global temperatures from 1850 to 2008, where the dramatic rise in global temperature over the past twenty years comparative to the temperature fluctuations in the prior century, is obvious.

In addition, although December 2009 was unseasonably cool in North America (as climate change naysayers gleefully rubbed their mittened hands at such chilling temperatures, quipping childish jokes like, "what happened to that global warming? Can we get it back please...?") due to some unusual Arctic air pressure and jet stream effects, it's important to note that "the contiguous 48 states cover only 1.5% of the world area, so the U.S. temperature does not affect the global temperature much." said James Hansen, director of the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in NYC. It is undeniable that the average global temperature has increased by about 1.4 degrees F (or 0.8 degrees Celsius) since 1880 (and will keep increasing). This may not seem like much, but this supposed negligible change in global temperature could in fact result in the extinction of approximately 20-30% of the earth's species, if increases in global warming exceed 1.5-2.5 degrees celsius (relative to the average temperature from 1980-1999).

Bill Nye (the Science Guy) explains it all to Rachel Maddow:

Top 7 "NO-EAT" Foods (with BETTER OPTIONS): You'll be surprised by some of these "Food Terrors"

2010-02-09T20:04:00.000-08:00

In an earlier post, I wrote about six key foods to avoiddue to scandalous practices and effects on the environment, the world, our health, or some combination of all three. Here are seven more foods to add to your "NO EAT" list - it's like the Terrorist "No-Fly" list, but for your fridge. Due to all of the toxins and chemicals in the foods listed here (which, interestingly enough, have NO overlap with the other list), stick this up under the heading: "NO EAT" - your body will thank you.

Prevention Magazine asked a group of food experts who actively research levels of chemicals and toxins in foods and packaging used to contain those foods: "What foods do you avoid, and what is a better option?" Here are their answers.

1. Canned Tomatoes. Go with tomatoes in glass bottles or tomato sauce.
2. Corn-Fed Beef. Don't eat beef. Or make sure it's grass-fed beef.
3. Microwave Popcorn. Pop it the old fashioned way.
4. Non-organic potatoes. Buy organic.
5. Farmed salmon. Buy wild-caught Alaskan salmon, but buy it sparingly or else it will all be gone.
6. Milk with rBGH. Buy organic, rBGH-free, or rBST-free milk.
7. Conventional apples. Buy these organic too.

For more, including all the details on why these foods are chock-full-'o' terror, click below!

1. Canned Tomatoes
This is a hard one for me, knowing that cooked (i.e., canned) tomatoes releases the important cancer-preventing bioflavanoid lycopene, resulting in easier absorption by the body, meaning that canned and stewed tomatoes, tomato sauce, etc. are all healthier for you than raw tomatoes. However, Fredrick vom Saal, PhD, who studies the evil bisphenol-A (BPA), a synthetic estrogen linked to reproductive problems, heart disease, diabetes, and obesity, says the linings of tin cans contain lots of BPA. You may be familiar with BPA, as it's achieved widespread coverage in the news over the past couple of years due to its prevalence in many products, including almost all plastics, and its resulting deleterious health effects. Apparently, one of the key qualities of tomatoes, acidity, facilitates leaching of BPA into food. Even more alarming, "studies show that the BPA in most people's body exceeds the amount that suppresses sperm production or causes chromosomal damage to the eggs of animals: 'You can get 50 mcg of BPA per liter out of a tomato can, and that's a level that is going to impact people, particularly the young,' says vom Saal. "I won't go near canned tomatoes."

Better Option: Buy tomatoes in glass bottles or Tetra-Pak boxes like those at Trader Joe's. Natural brands and natural health food stores supposedly carry these, though I just returned from Whole Foods and found no tomatoes in glass jars, unless you count pasta sauce (I don't). If you can find 'em, I'm sure they're more expensive than regular tomatoes in the toxin-leaching cans, but frankly, the statement: studies show that the BPA in most people's body exceeds the amount that suppresses sperm production or causes chromosomal damage to the eggs of animals has been burned into my brain, and I'll never buy another can of tomatoes, that's for sure, even if it means getting Grandma on the phone and asking her to walk me through the finer points of home canning (remember that? I don't!)!

2. Corn-Fed Beef
If you watched Food Inc. (and if you haven't, I highly recommend it), you'll know that cows evolved to eat grass, not grains. Farmers today care more about their bottom line, and staying afloat in a "competitive" cow-farming industry, than about what cows are supposed to eat. As a result, cows are fed corn and soybeans to fatten them up faster. A USDA study found that grass-fed beef is higher in beta-carotene, vitamin E, omega-3s, calcium, magnesium and potassium; lower in inflammatory omega-6s; and lower in saturated fats.

Better Option: In my opinion, the best option is to completely eschew buying and eating any beef at all. But the global and individual benefits of vegetarianism is a topic for another day. However, if you have to buy beef, make sure it's grass-fed beef, which is found at specialty grocers, farmers' markets, and nationally at Whole Foods. It's usually labeled, but if you don't see it, ask your butcher. Again, if you've seen Food Inc, you'll know that you do have power as a consumer. If you ask for it, your local grocery store will start to carry it.

3. Microwave Popcorn
Again toxins lurking in the interior part of the packaging are to blame. Horrible chemicals, including perfluorooctanoic acid, in the lining of the bag, are linked to infertility in humans, according to a UCLA study. In animal testing, the chemicals cause liver, testicular, and pancreatic cancer. Apparently, microwaving causes the chemicals to vaporize - and migrate into your popcorn, where, when they get into your body, they stay for years and accumulate.

Better Option: Buy old-fashioned kernal popcorn and pop it the old-fashioned way. In a skillet, or air-popper. Remember those? It seems to me there is a trend to get back to old-fashioned ways and traditions in many areas... (Or you can wait until 2015 to buy your microwave popcorn, the date manufacturers have promised to phase out the toxin by, under a voluntary EPA plan. No hurry necessary or anything...!)

4. Non-organic Potatoes
Jeffrey Moyer, chair of the National Organic Standards Board says potatoes are treated with fungicides during the growing season, then sprayed with herbicides. Then potatoes are treated yet again to prevent them from sprouting. Traditional potatoes won't sprout - try it at home! They're essentially completely dead. When you think about eating "live" - ingesting living nutrients to sustain your own vitality - how can such a "vegetable" robbed of all of its life-giving nutrients be anything you'd want to put into your body. Apparently, Moyer talked with potato growers "who say point-blank they would never eat the potatoes they sell. They have separate [farm] plots where they grow potatoes for themselves without all the chemicals."

Better Option: This is one vegetable that's pretty critical to buy organic. Washing or peeling potatoes isn't good enough when all of the chemicals have been completely absorbed into the heart of the potato. Keep this in mind also, anytime you order a side of fries, mashed potatoes, or baked potatoes when you dine out. Maybe it's better (for many reasons) to get the rice or steamed veggies instead!

5. Farmed Salmon
David Carpenter, MD, published a study in the journal Science (2004) on contaminated fish which got wide media attention. He says fish were never meant to live crammed into pens and fed soy, poultry litter, hydrolyzed chicken feathers (let alone the overwhelming amount of fish feces that results from living in such crowded conditions, and high doses of antibiotics to counteract all of the resulting illnesses and bacteria.... ewww). Just give that a thought for a minute before you never order or buy salmon again without knowing where it's from.

...Need more reasons? Farmed salmon contains carcinogens, PCBs, brominated flame retardants, and pesticides such as dioxin and DDT.

Better Option: Switch to wild-caught Alaska salmon, and only eat it once in a while, as all of our oceans are becoming overfished. If the package says fresh Atlantic, it's farmed. There are no commercial fisheries left for wild Atlantic salmon. For more on sustainable seafood, download and print out the handy pocket-size Seafood Watch Guide from the Monterey Bay Aquarium's Seafood Watch Program.

6. Milk Produced with Artificial Hormones
Recombinant bovine growth hormone (rBGH) has been in the news a LOT over the past few years, all for very bad reasons, and I'm happy to report that rBGH-free milk is now widely available (though rBGH is actually BANNED in most industrialized countries; the FDA has still approved it for use in the U.S.). Milk treated with rBGH increases udder infections and even pus in the milk. As a result, rBGH-treated dairy cows are given high doses of antibiotics to counteract the rBGH-resulting infections, which has contributed to the many antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains of infection in humans, among other problems. If you still are debating whether or not ingesting growth hormones and antibiotics is worth the extra money it will cost to switch to organic milk, rBGH also leads to higher levels of the hormone insulin-like growth factor (IGF-1), which may contribute to breast, prostate, and colon cancers in humans.

Better Option: Make sure you check labels for rBGH-free, rBST-free, produced without artificial hormones, or organic milk. rBGH has gotten so much press, and consumers have wielded their power so effectively, that even Wal-Mart carries non-rGBH milk under their Great Value brand. (Update: 2/12/10: The "Great Value" brand by Wal-Mart may not in fact be truthfully organic, as a major USDA investigation into the factory farms supplying the milk for private-label brands such as Wal-Mart, Costco, Target, and Safeway found that 14 tenets of federal organic regulations were "willfully" violated. Large factory farms have been able to get away with murder because to date, there have been rather lax stipulations around what, specifically, "organic" means when referring to dairy cows and livestock. The good news is that as of today, February 12, 2010, the USDA has now passed more stringent regulations, ensuring that abuse of the 'organic' label and its associations is halted.)

7. Non-Organic Apples
Conventional apples are among the most "doused in pesticides" of any fruit. In addition, they are sprayed with colorants and waxes to increase their visual appeal. Though the industry still maintains the pesticide residues aren't harmful, why ingest pesticides if you don't have to? Also, more evidence is piling up which points to a correlation between a higher "body burden" of pesticides (from all sources) with Parkinson's disease.

Better Option: Buy organic apples. Or, if the price differential is just too great to bear, wash and peel the apples, but keep in mind the majority of the apple's nutrients reside within the peel!

Conclusion: The more natural and locally-sourced your food is, the better it will be - for your health, for the local farmer, and for the environment. These foods may seem more expensive or more difficult to find at first, but isn't your (and your family's) long-term health worth the effort?

Social media is a major part of the Haiti relief effort - Help Haiti Now

2010-01-15T01:20:00.000-08:00

The catastrophic 7.0 magnitude earthquake to hit Haiti on Tuesday, the worst earthquake in Haiti in over 200 years, has resulted in unimaginable destruction, with death tolls estimated in the tens of thousands. Thousands of buildings have been destroyed, including the National Palace, akin to the White House in the US, Parliament, schools, and hospitals.

However, if there is any relative upside to this disaster, it has been the universal and immediate bond of altruism across the world as a global flood of support and donations as soon as the news of the earthquake hit the social media networks. Within one day, the viral fundraising campaign via Twitter and Facebook raised over $5 million for the Red Cross's relief efforts. @RedCross tweeted: "text "HAITI" to 90999 to donate $10 to Red Cross relief efforts in #haiti" on Twitter, and within minutes, this message spread throughout the world via social networks, facebook status messages, and twitter updates and retweets. The one day total of $5 million that's been raised so far by the Red Cross far exceeds the 2009 mobile text donation total of nearly $4 million, said a spokeswoman for the organization which undeniably proves the power and necessity of social media and viral information dissemination to mobilize action.

In 2005, Haitian-born rapper Wyclef Jean founded a nonprofit organization, Yele Haiti, to provide global awareness for his homeland, the poorest in the Western hemisphere. Yele has become another major fundraising organization for disaster relief efforts in Haiti, either via the Yele.org website or via text: "Text "Yele" to 501501 to donate $5 to YELE HAITI. Your money will help with relief efforts. They need our help..please help if you can" (as @wyclef initially tweeted). Within 1 hour the system was overloaded and within a day Yele had received $1 million in donations.

Excellent additional organizations to donate to include Oxfam, who promise that "we are providing clean water, shelter and sanitation and helping people recover – your donation will go immediately to the most critical needs in Haiti, and we will ensure that every penny is used wisely" and Doctors Without Borders (Medicins Sans Frontieres), who state on their website, that "we have already treated more than 1,000 people on the ground in Haiti following Tuesday's earthquake, but the needs are huge. An inflatable hospital with operating theatres is expected to arrive in the next 24 hours."

I am overwhelmed with profound sadness for the people of Haiti, but am somewhat buoyed by the glimmer of light that manifests in the power of global empathy and outpouring of generosity in the face of such tragedy. My only wish is that a similar mobilization of attention and resources would manifest in a proactive way to protect and nurture our planet and halt further harm (massive deforestation, unthinkable wastestream contributions, mountaintop mining explosions, overfishing the oceans, global pollution, etc.) resulting from human hands. Ignored amidst the immediacy of this disaster is the simple fact that earthquakes and volcanoes are triggered by climate change, and as the natural balance of earth's climate becomes more disrupted, and global warming careens out of control, geological disasters will occur with increasing frequency and severity.

Will 2010 be the year of the electric car?

2010-01-12T19:18:00.000-08:00

The trends from automakers at the Detroit Auto show, happening this week, seem to suggest so. Due to the current economic climate, the worsening recession, and increasing concerns around climate change and global oil reserve depletion, car manufacturers are eager to highlight new versions of smaller, less expensive cars, many of which get up to 40 miles per gallon on highways. Hybrids and electric cars are also taking center stage, with many auto manufacturers debuting electric models. Electric cars still seem to be firmly rooted in the future realm in the majority of the United States, with lack of ubiquitous charging stations and the current high cost of electric cars, but hopefully this is changing. A $100 million federal grant to the Electric Transportation Engineering Corporation is a great start, as are the 2500 electric car charging stations in 5 chosen cities (one of which is Seattle - yay! For more on Seattle's Electric Vehicle initiative, see the following November 1, 2009 story in the Seattle PI).

One major reason I was regretting no longer living in Colorado this past year had to do with the forward-thinking $42,000 tax credit Colorado gave new Tesla roadster buyers, if they purchased the $109,900 car before December 31. For those who don't know, the Tesla Roadster is an unquestioned sports car, a two-seater that is so low-slung it feels like you're climbing down into a bucket seat in a race car, with the thinnest barrier between you and the road, that goes from 0 to 60 mph in 3.9 seconds. I had the thrill of being taken for a test drive in the Roadster last year, (yep, that's me in the passenger seat in the pic) and I swear, I felt g-forces throw me back against the seat and keep me there; seatbelt unnecessary! I admit, I haven't been able to stop thinking about the car since. That's the best discount on a pure luxury item I've ever heard of, at nearly 50%, putting this fantasy car well within reach, at least to those in the market for "normal" high-end brands like BMW, Mercedes, Porsche, etc. Though the massive tax credit made national news and received quite a flurry of attention among the social media networks as 2009 drew to a close, a representative from Colorado's Department of Revenue said in an October issue of the Denver Post, that fewer than 10 tax filers were expected to take advantage of the credit, sealing the Tesla Roadster's status as pure luxury.

Nonetheless, more practical cars like the Chevy Volt, a plug-in hybrid electric car that debuted in November, the Nissan LEAF, an all-electric, zero-emission vehicle currently in Seattle as one of the chosen test markets, and electric cars that are already popular in Europe are making their way to the US; e.g., Daimler's smart ev car (with a range of 70 miles on a charge, 70 mph top speed), and Th!nk city (which can drive 110 miles on a single charge and tops out at 65 mph) are paving the way for more ubiquitous EVs on the road.

To have a look at the current crop of eco-vehicles - the sexy (the Roadster), the rugged (the Jeep - EV?), the fun (MINI EV - I can't wait!), and the Tron-mobile (you'll see...) and vote on your favorites, head on over to Planet Green!

The Dirty Secrets of 6 Scandalous Foods - and Healthy Alternatives

2010-01-11T18:17:00.009-08:00

Today, one of my favorite online resources for interesting and topical environmental, health, and green living news, The Daily Green, posted an interesting and enlightening story about six "scandalous" foods that are in some way bad for the environment, the world, our health, or some combination of all three. In addition to elucidating the careless and even exploitative business practices of these foods, not all hope is lost: better alternatives are given. This short list is easy to remember and certainly will factor into my decisions the next time I'm at the grocery store or at a restaurant.

While some of the "scandalous" foods and the reasons they're on this list may not surprise you (the ubiquitous presence of corn and corn products in the form of high fructose corn syrup has been widely exposed as the main culprit behind the US's obesity "epidemic," type 2 diabetes, blood pressure problems, not to mention liver and kidney problems, and even osteoarthritis), many others are eye-opening, to say the least. For example, I learned that the dominance of corn in our food products is not only dangerously threatening to our own individual health, but has resulted in massive deforestation across the world. In addition, the widespread use of chemical fertilizer on corn fields in the U.S. has created a massive "dead zone" in the Gulf of Mexico – a 7,900 square-mile area patch of water that is so oxygen-depleted that sea life cannot survive.

So what are the other top offenders? Click below to find out:

In no particular order:

Shrimp: Harvesting shrimp is phenomenally wasteful, and harmful to other sea creatures. Up to 10 pounds of other fish are collaterally destroyed for every pound of shrimp caught, including dolphins, who are caught in the shrimp nets. Shrimp farms outside the U.S. (notably those in Thailand) have also carelessly polluted and subsequently destroyed their mangrove forests.

Better Alternative: Instead, if you must eat shrimp (it is very high in cholesterol, so decreasing your shrimp consumption is a good thing, overall), choose U.S.-farmed shrimp or wild-caught spot prawns and pink shrimp.

Chocolate: This one surprised me. Apparently, chocolate has similar dark political underbelly-conflict roots much like conflict diamonds. A 2007 report revealed that Africa's cocoa trade was bankrolling both sides of Cote d'Ivoire's bloody civil war. In addition, the cocoa trade has also been accused of supporting forced child labor and trafficking. I don't think anyone would ever guess that their candy bar purchases would support African labor trafficking.

Better Alternative: Fair Trade chocolate. One of my favorite companies is our very own local Theo Chocolates, located in Fremont (Seattle), WA, which creates gourmet delicious and decadently pure dark chocolates and interesting blends like chocolate orange, chocolate mint, salted caramels, and so on. (and while you're at it, purchase Fair Trade coffee).

Tuna: Of all of the foods on the list, this one is the hardest for me (not) to swallow (*ahem*). There is nothing better to me than sashimi-grade tuna, sliced thin... nonetheless, tuna is one of the most well-known offending fish industries. For years, the tuna industry used the practice of "dolphin circling" to catch tuna, resulting in the deaths of more than 100,000 dolphins each year. I thought tuna was back on the "safe to eat" list, mercury levels notwithstanding, with "Dolphin-safe" labels cropping up everywhere; however, these labels conveniently ignore the fact that tuna fishing collaterally destroys thousands of other sea creatures including sea turtles, sharks, and rays. In addition, overfishing within the tuna industry is destroying itself. It's estimated that 90% of the world's tuna stock has already been harvested. At this rate, tuna will be entirely extinct within the next few years.

Better Alternative: Arctic Char, Rainbow trout, or wild Alaskan salmon

Corn: Almost everything about this food is terrible for one's personal health and the environment.

Better Alternative: Organic sweet corn, eliminating foods with high fructose corn syrup (Start reading labels; and stop drinking soda!)

Beef: Wow. I knew the cattle farming industry was environmentally offensive but had NO IDEA that this industry accounts for more greenhouse gas waste than that released from the entire auto industry. In addition, talk about waste. It takes around 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. In a world where water will become more valuable than oil (see: "Oil, Water, and Climate" published by Cambridge University Press) with respect to its growing scarcity this amount of waste cannot hold. Cattle farming is simply unsustainable.

Better Alternative: Reduce your meat consumption! And if and when you do choose beef, choose grass-fed beef, which is more nutritious, less harmful to the animal, and less wasteful to produce than factory-farmed corn-fed cows (see "Corn" above).

Bananas: Again, another huge surprise. Although the nutritional value is indisputable, the banana growing industry is responsible for deforestation in Latin America, as well as environmental and human destruction due to polluting pesticides. In addition, the simple banana is another with a long history of political conflict through supporting colonial exploitation. Recently, Chiquita apparently was found to have paid the Colombian terrorist group United Self-Defense Forces more than $1.7 million for protection between 1997 and 2004.

Better Alternative: Fair trade bananas.

For more, check out The Daily Green's original article here

What do you need? Think about it. Then give it to yourself.

2010-01-01T18:44:00.000-08:00

The other day at the end of my yoga class, the teacher suggested we take a minute and ask ourselves: "What is it that I need right now?" In context, she meant simply: do whatever pose you want, if you want, before you collapse into corpse pose. She continued: "Your body is your true teacher. What is it calling out for right now: a twist, a forward bend, an energizing back bend? Something else entirely? Only you know what you need today, in this moment."

As a result, I got to thinking -- how often do we, in the course of our often hectic daily lives, pause to really listen to ourselves; our bodies, our heart, our inner selves, and give it what it's calling out for? We hear, loud and clear, the obvious cues of hunger, exhaustion, pain, and general malaise, all signs that our bodies are screaming in protest to whatever it is that we are currently doing, or have neglected to do. And yet we often blithely persist in doing what we're doing, or not doing. We unconsciously, or consciously, ignore these cues, often choosing to deaden them with alternative substances (caffeine? sugar? alcohol? painkillers?), rather than listen, stop, and address the real root of the problem. It's a known fact that by the time we feel thirsty our body is already dehydrated. People also often mistake thirst for hunger and eat something, usually salty or sweet, instead, which only heightens the true problem. How often do we simply grab whatever is quickest and easiest to eat by the time we notice we're ravenous? How many other times do we find ourselves mindlessly snacking away for other non-hunger related reasons... out of boredom, anxiety, stress, exhaustion, habit, fatigue, socializing, or peer pressure?

What other needs in our lives do we suppress in lieu of other pressures, expectations, and routine? How many times do we say "yes" to things we have neither the desire nor time for?How did this "no problem" habit become so pervasive, such that hearing (and giving) an affirmative answer is expected, regardless of the consequences? Saying yes to opportunities and upholding responsibilities is one thing, but at what cost: to one's relationships, one's quality of life, one's health?

In mulling over the many contexts this simple question, What Do I Need?, can be applied to, I think it's something we should be asking ourselves on a moment-by-moment, daily basis from the most minute level (am I really craving fries? Or do I need to drink more water?) to much deeper and meaningful contexts pertaining to relationships, life, love, career and aspirational goals. Only by learning to listen to our one true guide - our inner selves - can we find a starting point from which to truly address, rather than palliate, our needs.

I initially started this blog with the idea of exploring the relationship between mind/body and our environment through the constant choices we make. Many life choices we are careful and deliberate about, but most simple daily decisions we make are subconscious, spontaneous, or all too often, habitual. Life is complicated enough; the very least we can do for ourselves is to pay attention to our true needs, and satisfy them. I suspect life would become simpler, and more satisfying, as a result.

You Are What You Eat: "Live" Foods Give Life, Reverse Disease

2009-08-04T16:19:00.000-07:00

"You are what you eat:" it's an age-old adage that has never been proven more visibly than when we observe the effects of our grab-and-go, convenience-foods culture on our nation's growing obesity, type-2 diabetes, and heart disease epidemics. A more conscious approach to healthful eating can result in a major difference in how people look and feel, and even reverse disease, according to Danielle Heard, MS, HHC, a holistic health counselor certified by the American Association of Drugless Practitioners and founder of Artemis in the City, a holistic nutrition services company.

The first time I met Danielle, I was blown away by her amazing mane of lustrous hair, luminous skin, and bright but warm eyes. This woman radiated health and harmony. Apparently, it wasn't always so. In 1996, Danielle became very sick:

"I was so very ill and was diagnosed with migraines, chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia, and depression. I saw about 20 doctors who could not determine the cause of my illness, and basically said it was psychological."

After living for many years with a variety of chronic health problems and illnesses, none of which were helped by traditional medicine, Danielle took matters into her own hands and turned to healing herself from the inside out through adopting a "whole foods" lifestyle.

"I completely changed my diet, and within two months I felt noticeably better. Within two years, I was completely healed." After experiencing firsthand the 180 degree difference in her health following a lifestyle and diet change, Danielle trained to become certified as a holistic health counselor so that she could help others affect change in their own lives.

"I want to teach people that it is possible to take control of your own health. In our society, traditional medicine often treats individual symptoms after they have occurred rather than addressing the root cause of disease, or even better, preventing disease."

Danielle says that the body is capable of healing itself and reversing long time unhealthy patterns soon after healthful changes are made: "I help people transition to a whole foods lifestyle and eliminate processed foods. Living foods are the most beneficial to the body. Not all calories are created equal."

Danielle says most people will reach for whatever is most convenient, which are often pre-packaged or fast foods, filled with toxic trans fats and preservatives. "My goal is to help people become more conscious of their food choices." Something as simple as drinking more water, decreasing sugar, and adding more greens and whole grains to the daily diet can make a huge difference to energy levels and overall health.

I had the opportunity to pick Danielle's brain a bit about the best ways to improve our daily diet:

What is the most important thing we should eat every day?

"#1 = Water. Without a doubt. 64 ounces: at least 8 glasses! Most people don't even know that when they feel thirsty their body is already dehydrated. Most people exist in a chronically dehydrated state. Drink water. Often!
#2 = Greens! Eat leafy greens every day."

Should we take vitamins and supplements?

"Food is your medicine. A normal healthy person has no need for supplemental vitamins if she or he is eating a balanced and varied whole foods diet."

In your opinion, what is the worst thing we can do for our health?

"Fast food. Food should not be 'fast.' The transfats and hydrogenated oils in fast foods are toxic. Aspartame (found in equal, nutrasweet, over 6000 products including all "sugar-free" items) is a poison."

Is eating this way really hard and/or expensive?

"Eating this way is not hard once you know what kinds of food to shop for, and which foods to avoid. Slow food IS health."

What if I have no time or don't like to prepare and cook food?

If you care about your health, and see the effects a whole foods lifestyle has on your health, then shopping and preparing your food in this way becomes a top priority."

What do you do for your health every day?

"I drink at least 8 ounces of green juice every day: I make a 'green goddess' drink in my juicer that includes:

cucumber
parsley
spinach or other dark leafy greens
green apple
ginger root
lemon juice

It's delicious and keeps me well and healthy!"

Artemis in the City offers clients individualized consultations and tailored nutrition programs to address individual concerns and health problems, specifically helping clients battle obesity, decrease high blood pressure, eliminate food allergies, and reverse heart disease, diabetes, and autoimmune diseases such as arthritis, chronic pain and IBS and fibromyalgia.

For recipes, client testimonials, additional resources, and more information, check out Artemis in the City's website: www.artemisinthecity.com and to learn more about Artemis in the City's services, Danielle offers clients a free health history session: call 212-535-3160.

San Francisco Adopts First National "Eat Locally/Sustainably" Policy

2009-07-09T18:34:00.000-07:00

In my last blog post, I wrote about the importance of trying to eat as locally and sustainably as possible, both for the betterment of our own individual health (the fresher the foods, the more living nutrients are retained within them) and global health (reduced emissions from food transport across long distances and decreased unsustainable/industrial farming practices).

I'm happy to see that this topic seems to be at the forefront of many people's consciousness, as I read today that San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom issued an executive directive outlining San Francisco’s (and the nation's) first comprehensive regional food policy. San Francisco seems to be battling it out with Portland for the title of "most sustainable city in the nation" but so far, San Fran seems to be leading in urban green efforts with their mandatory recycling and composting law implemented in June (wow, impressive!), and initiatives to ensure that San Francisco will be the "Electric Vehicle Capital of the US," through hopes of building the world's first fully electric vehicle grid.

This sustainable food policy is the third major initiative undertaken by San Francisco to help strengthen its place as "most sustainable city in the world" ...Aiming high, Portland and San Francisco, I love it! Except... where's Seattle amidst the fray? ...We are the "Emerald City" after all!

Mayor Newsom states: "The stark reality is that hunger, food insecurity, and poor nutrition are pressing health issues, even in a city as rich and vibrant as San Francisco. From the alleviation of hunger, to the need to support local and sustainable agricultural practices, these recommendations form a comprehensive and strategic approach to addressing pressing needs in all sectors of the food system."

The key elements of the new food policy include:

1) Requiring all city departments to conduct an audit of land under their jurisdiction in order to inventory land suitable for gardening
2) New health and sustainability requirements for food sold by vendors under city permits
3) A “healthy meetings policy” requiring the purchase of healthy, locally produced foods for city meetings
4) Requiring that food purchased by the city has been grown regionally and through using sustainable methods (within two months).

This directive calls for completion of these actions within six months, and within two months, Newsom says he will send an ordinance to the Board of Supervisors mandating that all food served in hospitals, homeless shelters, jails, and community centers be healthy.

There is also a reciprocity aspect to help local restaurants and food vendors find farms from which they can buy produce directly. Already the city's mandatory recycling and composting program sends tons of food scraps to local farms and wineries, which in turn produce the high-quality wines and food sold and consumed in the San Francisco Bay Area.

I find it so inspiring and heartening that a city is recognizing the importance of these issues and addressing them in sustainable and manageable ways. Food purchased locally saves money through reduced shipping distances and costs, which also trims greenhouse gas emissions. In addition, purchasing local foods reinvests money back into the local economy and supports the local growers. Mandated healthy food may also save the city money on healthcare treatment in the long run: if people as a whole start to eat more healthfully, people's health will improve and the number of people who develop diseases that result from poor eating habits and poor quality food such as diabetes, obesity, and heart disease, should also decrease.

Could it be possible that such initiatives could be rolled out nationwide? What do you think? What would be the drawbacks or backlash to implementing such food requirements? How could these be addressed specifically and effectively?

Easy Ways to Make Sustainable, Local and Healthful Food Choices

2009-07-04T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today is the Fourth of July... US Independence Day. This has become the day for Americans to crank up the BBQ, pile on the potato salad and enjoy a summertime feast before the fireworks start. In recognition of the food-centric way in which we tend to celebrate occasions, and what seems to be a fair amount of buzz around exposing the dirty little secrets of the food industry lately, I thought I would take a conscious look at how the way we shop for food and the choices we make at the market affect our health and the environment.

Living in Seattle, I recognize my good food fortune in that I can walk to the country’s best farmers’ market, Pike Place Market (internationally recognized as “America's premier farmers' market,” attracting over 10 million visitors a year) within 10 minutes. The easy access we have here in Seattle to local, organic, and seasonal farm-fresh produce and dairy products as well as knowing the seafood offered at the local fishmongers is usually guaranteed wild and fished responsibly from nearby waters makes choosing healthful, natural and locally-sourced foods almost effortless. In most of the country, however, food options are dominated by whatever is offered in the local corporate grocery chain. Unfortunately, these large chains often emphasize size (bigger is better) and reduced cost (via mass manufacturing, industrial farming, genetic engineering, other technological “innovations”) over quality, natural growing techniques, or support of local farm operations.

Luckily, we seem to be in the midst of a tipping point with respect to recognizing the adverse health and environmental effects of supporting such a mass-produced, genetically- and synthetically-engineered food system. Recently, the unappetizing horrors within the modern commercialized food chain have been exposed in books such as Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma, Marion Nestle’s Food Politics: How the Food Industry Influences Nutrition, and Health, and Fast Food Nation by Eric Schlosser. Recent documentaries such as King Corn highlights the frustrating system of governmental subsidies to corn farmers and high fructose corn syrup as the insidious culprit behind America’s obesity and diabetes epidemic, and Food Inc, which I have not yet seen but is high on my list, is reviewed by the New York Times as “an informative, sometimes infuriating, activist documentary about the big business of feeding or, more to the political point, force-feeding, Americans all the junk that multinational corporate money can buy” both cast a spotlight on the previously shadowy world of food manufacturing. As long as food tastes good, most people are happy to remain blissfully unaware of what is involved in getting it that way, or to their table. But no longer.

The sustainable food movement is gaining more momentum, rolling all the way up to Washington, via the political and environmental symbolic statement made by Michelle Obama's planting of the very first Presidential vegetable garden. Although starting a farm in your backyard or rooftop may not be immediately feasible (typical and immediate responses include: “I don’t have a green thumb!” “I don’t have time to tend a garden!” “I don’t have the space for that!” and/or “I wouldn’t know how to start a garden!”); technically, we do have the power to grow our own food. This Sunday’s New York Times magazine features Will Allen, an urban-farming expert of Growing Power Farming who has pioneered a local-farming movement to help educate people to do just that, regardless of where they live or how much money they have.

Each of us really does have the power to make a difference in the kinds of foods that are stocked in our markets. Choosing locally sourced foods from small, independent growers helps our health as well as the environment. Chances are the foods will be fresher, with less or no chemical preservatives since they were likely on the vine or in the ground as recently as a day ago, and the carbon footprint required to transport the foods to the market is minimized. In addition, every time we buy groceries and the scanner registers the bar codes of the products we buy, a marketing company registers our purchasing preferences, and the more we buy locally, the more locally sourced items we'll see.

Think about the following the next time you’re in the grocery store or at a restaurant:

1) Check to see where the produce you are buying is from. In my local Whole Foods, there are signs that proudly advertise “Locally grown WA Rainier cherries!” “Lady Washington apples from Snoqualmie…” etc., and I notice that often these local items are cheaper than others that have been transported from other states or countries. If there aren’t signs, the produce stickers usually contains location information: “product of Chile, Mexico,” etc. (I avoid these!)

2) Ask your produce manager if they carry fruits and vegetables from local farmers. The more you ask for it, and the more people who request it, the greater the chances they will start carrying it.

3) Print off and carry with you the “Seafood Watch List,” listing the seafood choices that are sustainably fished, abundant, and/or farmed in environmentally-friendly ways. You can view the guide online, or download a wallet-sized version. Try to avoid ordering or buying fish such as Chilean Sea Bass, Atlantic Cod, and others that are either overfished or unsustainably harvested. The list is long and surprising, but there are also many kinds of fish on the “best choices” list for abundance and responsible fishing.

4) Recognize that many label claims such as “natural,” “naturally raised,” “Raised without antibiotics,” and the use of “Organic” for seafood and personal care products are unregulated, misleading and basically meaningless.

5) Check out Food Democracy Now, a grassroots movement initiated by farmers, writers, chefs, eaters and policy advocates to: “implement real and significant change in our nation’s food, agricultural and environmental policies through advancing best practices in food production, animal husbandry, conservation of natural resources, renewable energy and soil preservation.” Sign the petition to make your voice heard for a sustainable USDA!

6) Consider signing the petition on Food Independence Day.Org, launched by Roger Doiron of Kitchen Gardeners International, who earlier this year petitioned the Obama administration to plant a Victory Garden on the White House lawn. Part of this effort was to gain the commitment of individuals to include local foods in their menu and to encourage support of locally grown food and local eating on the Fourth of July.

7) Remember that every small change is still helpful, in a large way at an individual wellness level, as well as becoming part of the aggregate contribution to our global health.

“A small group of thoughtful people could change the world. Indeed, it’s the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

Make your voice heard on climate bill THIS WEEK!

2009-06-24T18:26:00.000-07:00

This Friday, June 26, 2009, the full House of Representatives will vote on the global warming and energy bill. In the words of Al Gore: "Make no mistake, this is the most important environmental vote of this generation. If passed this legislation will put us on the road to actually solving the climate crisis, in addition to building a green economy."

"The American Clean Energy and Security Act" aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 17 percent from 2005 levels by 2020, while creating "green" jobs. It would create a "cap-and-trade" system limiting overall pollution from large industrial sources and then allocating and selling pollution permits.

It is imperative that the US makes as much progress as possible on this issue before the December global climate change talks in Copenhagen, since US leadership is key to forging an international accord. "The whole world is looking at our capital. The whole world is waiting to see whether or not President Obama can arrive in Copenhagen as leader of the attempt to reduce greenhouse gases while at the same time unleashing a clean energy job revolution in our country and on our planet," said Democratic Representative Ed Markey, one of the measure's lead authors. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi described the legislation as "a bill that unifies our country and our industry."

Make a simple phone call to your representative: 877-9-REPOWER (877-9-737-6937) and make sure they vote yes and write your representative TODAY to make your voice heard and ensure this bill is passed.

Click here to contact your representative

Please feel free to copy and paste the text I used to contact Congressman McDermott, the Representative for the 7th District of Washington, changing the specifics (name and state):

Dear Congressman McDermott,
I am writing you to ask you to please vote YES this Friday on "The American Clean Energy and Security Act." As you well know, it is imperative that the US shows leadership on this issue early, in order to forge an international accord at the December global climate change talks in Copenhagen. In addition, Al Gore has said that this is the most important environmental vote of this generation. It is critical that Washington state, as a true "green leader," supports a solution to the global climate crisis.
Thank you for your time and your vote.
Amy Hale

Happy Solstice...! Fremont Parade 2009 (where art, politics and nudity can happily coexist)

2009-06-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

Well I'm back after almost 2 months of hiatus, during which I traveled here, there, to and fro: all over France and just a bit of a toe-dip into Spain. I do plan to write about my adventures (and perhaps even some misadventures), hopefully with some kind of eco-spin to it all, or maybe just some pretty pictures, in the coming days. But first things first:

This weekend I covered the 38th annual Fremont Fair and Parade as part of the Seattle social media press corps, sponsored by Solid Ground, a local Seattle Nonprofit dedicated to raising funds, awareness and support for the needs of the homeless and underprivileged in our community. The fair celebrates the Summer Solstice, and has become synonymously linked with what has become the infamous naked bike ride, in which hundreds of cyclists, skateboarders, unicyclists, and rollerbladers/skaters paint, adorn, and decorate themselves in all manner of colorful "costumes" and themes. I'm actually not sure how the whole "naked bike ride" originated, but I'm going to take an educated leap of a guess in that it has something to do with Celtic celebration of the solstice, a liberation and joyful celebration of the true self, but I could be reading too much into what in fact, was simply a loosely organized event originally started by streakers who crashed the parade sometime in the hippie heydays.

The parade has changed over the years, as participants decided to emphasize bodypainting and other forms of creative artistry done in the spirit of the host event. The entire fair is a multi-faceted celebration of art, including musicians, vendors, street performers, and "art cars" from all over the country. The cyclists kick off the colorful and hugely celebratory parade originating in Fremont, the self-proclaimed "Center of the Universe," traveling a mile and a half to Gas Works Park, alongside Lake Union. This being only my second summer in Seattle, and my first-ever Fremont Fair, I had no idea what to expect, and showed up, camera in hand, with more than a fair amount of trepidation.

However, the Seattle energy that has come to be quite familiar to me immediately permeated the air... throngs were lining the sidewalks well before the parade was scheduled to begin. Bike riders, painted and ready to go, were visibly excited to be adorned in new roles and costumes and participating in such a community-focused, fun event. It wouldn't be a Seattle event without messages - always liberal, the parade float themes ranged from Peace to vegetarianism, saving the oceans, recycling and eliminating plastics, the Iran election, Israel-Palestinian conflict, to legalization of marijuana. There was also a healthy sprinkling of pure celebration of the (occasional) sun and (frequent) rain in this part of the world as well as some baffling abstractions. I had a blast, and, as they say... photos speak a thousand words... Check it out in the slideshow at the top of this post(Click to enlarge it)!

Happy Earth Day: Celebrate - Give - Preserve!

2009-04-22T01:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Earth Day (in case you didn't know, it's today, April 22 - and the 39th anniversary of Earth Day, can you believe it?!) but so what... what to do...!? Of course, I'm of the belief that "every day is earth day" but Earth Day is the one designated day to kickstart everyone's consciousness about greening up your life. Essentially, I see Earth Day as a "New Year's" day for the earth. How about taking the day to make some "Earth Day resolutions" for the year ahead...?

Start with a one time donation for Earth Day, but then repeat annually/quarterly/cyclically/monthly... whatever schedule works best for you!:

1) Make a donation ($10 or more!) to Replanting the Rainforests, an organization collecting donations to help restore and permanently rebuild some of the 80% of the world’s native forests that have been destroyed.

2) Join or make a donation to Green America, (formerly Co-op America) the largest Green NFP membership organization, dedicated to promoting social justice, environmental sustainability, and healthy communities worldwide through economic action: Donate/Join HERE. In joining Green America, you'll also receive some really cool resources on green living, green businesses, investing, and current environmental issues.

3) Offset your carbon footprint. Carbonfund.org allows you to calculate your carbon footprint for your home, car, travel, or one-off event and allows you to offset it. Or just select the Gift option to choose your offset in $10 (tax deductible) increments. For more information on carbon offsetting, check out this great article from Green America on the variety of good, better, and best options available: Carbon Offsets Dymystified.

4) Choose an environmental or species-protecting organization, cause, or NFP, and donate to it. Donate of your time and energy (volunteer!) if opening your wallet is not the best alternative right now. Here are some of my favorites:
Greenpeace
WWF
Sierra Club
Nature Conservancy
Humane Society of the United States (HSUS)

5) Support your local Farmers' Markets or Food Co-Op: Obtaining your food from local sources is better for everyone: there is less energy expended to pack, preserve, and transport the produce, the small local farmers are being supported; you're getting the benefits of fresher, more nutrient-dense and healthier foods, and small farms are much more sustainable for the earth than the large pesticide-ridden and hormone-filled factory-farms that are decimating the landscape.

FREE! Give of your time, Get out and just be. Celebrate the earth and the gifts it has to offer. Consider how you can give back on a daily basis in gratitude and for future preservation of our planet.

1) Volunteer at a community garden, animal shelter, trail or parks renovation program, or other pro-green organization in your local community. Make a commitment to return once a month or more.

2) Start a green habit. Carry reusable bags everywhere, conserve water through shorter showers, install a low-flow showerhead or toilet, institute a greener commute: bike, walk, use public transportation, ride-share or carpool, become conscious of your energy use and unplug those unused appliances, make turning out lights a habit.

3) Plant something. Nothing feels personally greener than planting a tree or a garden yourself. Apartment dwellers, start your own herb garden. Anything to start locally sourcing your food more is better (for you, and for the environment!)

4) Get outside! Take a walk, hike, or ride your bike. Get out to a park, the woods, countryside, or mountains - whatever you have nearby, even if it's just your backyard or business park's lawn and try to really see the nature around you with new eyes. Seriously, stop and really look at the flowers blooming, the trees budding. The other day on a walk by the water down by Pike Place Market, I looked down and saw a seal. Within petting distance of the pier. I glance out my window to the regular sight of soaring bald eagles. I'm fortunate enough to live in a place where I wake up to the sun illuminating the Olympic mountains across Puget Sound to the west, the Cascades range to the northeast and occasionally the massif Mt. Rainier will make an appearance on the clear days to the south, and whether it's sunny or rainy, I am reminded always at how fortunate I am to live in such a magnificent place. Of course I want to do what I can to preserve it. Taking time to slow down quiets the mind, breath, and will positively affect the whole flow of your day. Magnifying what is so easy to overlook can often create a sense of wonder and stillness...

Photo: Arboretum, Seattle © Amy Hale

To find events in your area, go to the official Earth Day website: http://earthday.net/ and join the Earth Day social network at http://network.earthday.net/

Top Five Friday

2009-04-10T14:21:00.000-07:00

There's so much going on in the GreenSphere that I thought I'd walk my own talk and make it easy: I'm simply listing the Top 5 things I've found buzzing around the intertubes today that when added, followed, read, and/or acted upon, will indeed make a difference to the earth. Each will take less than 120 seconds each, I promise, yet the effects will be long-lasting.

1) Add the "Every Day is Earth Day" Application to your facebook profile and the company Cooler, Inc. will offset 5 lbs of carbon emissions for each user that adds the app. The goal is to reach 20,000 user adds for a total of 100,000 lbs of offset carbon emissions by Earth Day, April 22! Check it out: http://apps.facebook.com/gengreenearthday/ The app will also deliver daily tips that you can utilize to decrease the environmental impact of your daily routine in a small but significant way. 1620 lbs have already been offset and the app was just released today! Remember to invite your friends!

2) Determine your carbon footprint with the Carbon Calculator at Al Gore's www.climatecrisis.net. When I saw An Inconvenient Truth years ago, the first thing I did after the movie ended was calculate my carbon footprint (I don't own a car but I fly medium to long-haul trips, on average, twice a month - travel is both my life and my vice). I'm not sure how many people even know what "carbon footprint" means, let alone are consciously aware of how they contribute daily to global warming. The carbon dioxide we all produce by driving and leaving the lights on adds up quickly. You may be surprised by how much Co2 you are emitting each year - I was; I thought I was doing great never driving and being energy efficient in my home! Calculate your personal impact and learn how you can take action to reduce or even eliminate your emissions of carbon dioxide.

3) Offset your carbon footprint: (What does that mean?) Well, it means donating money, usually... programs can differ and you never fully know what your money is going towards in this relatively new not-for-profit enterprise. Thus, caveat emptor reigns... however, I've done a bunch of research and can fully recommend The Nature Conservancy's program: Climate Change - Carbon Offset Program There is an easy to use carbon calculator on the site, suggested voluntary donation amounts per carbon use, and contributions to the voluntary carbon offset program help "fund projects that are specifically designed to capture and store carbon and thus, help reduce the build up of greenhouse gases that are causing climate change. Contributions will be used to set aside land, provide funding for forest conservation, plant trees and measure and verify the amount of carbon captured and stored over the next 70 years, by when the forest will have matured." I try to contribute each time I fly somewhere.

4) Sign up to volunteer at/support the Green Apple Festival (April 17-19) for Earth Day. Earth Day Network and Green Apple Festival's 2009 plans include simultaneous events in ten US cities (New York, Boston, Washington DC, Atlanta, Seattle, Chicago, Denver, Austin, LA, San Francisco) over Earth Day Weekend that will focus on environmental volunteerism. The service events will be coupled with Earth Day on the National Mall in Washington, DC and free “Thank You” concerts for volunteers in each city. Activities will focus on climate change solutions like tree planting, energy efficiency retrofits, water protection, urban gardens and forest restoration in local parks, beaches, forests, and schools. See http://www.greenapplemusicfestival.com/ for more info.

5) Eliminate the need for plastic bags: Bring your own bag! Take a second and throw a crushable tote (the kind Whole Foods sells, for example, or any cotton bag) into your backpack, bookbag, purse, car, briefcase and just say "no" to plastic AND paper. If you ever needed a reason to reduce or eliminate your plastic bag consumption, just remember this: 1/3 of currently endangered leatherback turtles have been found to have plastic in their digestive systems, because their main source of nutrition is jellyfish (easily confused with plastic). The thought of these amazing creatures ingesting plastic unwittingly thinking it's a reliable food source just about makes me want to cry. See the following report on Treehugger for more information.

It's National Cell Phone Recycling Week April 6-12!

2009-04-10T00:23:00.000-07:00

Who knew... It's the first annual National Cell Phone Recycling Week, sponsored and promoted (ahem, via the whisper method?!) by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Note that the name is misleading: you can recycle your old phones at any time throughout the year though I think concentrated efforts at education and promotions are occurring this week.

I learned of the EPA's effort through a green social network Ecycle: http://ecycle.ning.com/, centered around educating and discussing issues related to the process of recycling the components of discarded electronic equipment like computers, laptops, monitors, televisions.

EPA’s "Plug-In To eCycling" program has partnered with AT&T, Best Buy, LG Electronics, Motorola, Nokia, Office Depot, Samsung, Sony Ericsson, Sprint, Staples, T-Mobile, and Verizon Wireless to launch a national campaign encouraging Americans to recycle or donate their unwanted cell phones.

The “Recycle Your Cell Phone. It’s An Easy Call” campaign aims to increase the public’s awareness of cell phone recycling and donation opportunities, with the ultimate goal of increasing the nation’s cell phone recycling rate from the current (pathetic) level: only 10% of unwanted cell phones are recycled or donated each year. There are an estimated 100 million cell phones that are no longer used in the U.S. If these are recycled, there would be enough energy saved to power more than 18,500 U.S. household for ONE YEAR.

Recycling: an Easy Choice - There are thousands of opportunities to recycle cell phones and accessories. Most cell phone retailers, manufacturers, and service providers have ongoing collection programs where phones can be dropped off or mailed in regardless of the age or brand, usually for free. Some charitable organizations and state or municipal solid waste programs also offer cell phone recycling; and a great choice is to donate old cell phones to women's and homeless shelters where they become "emergency only" devices.

Where to Recycle Your Cell Phone
Drop It Off or Mail it In: It's pretty easy to find one of the retailers near you that will collect your old cell phone (just make sure you wipe it clean of any data first and remove the SIM card...):

Visit the links for detailed drop-off, mail-in, and collection event information.

AT&T
Nokia
Motorola
Samsung
Best Buy
Office Depot
Sony Ericsson/How to recycle your Sony Ericsson Phone
Sprint
Staples
T-Mobile
LG Electronics
Verizon Wireless

Recycling: a Green Call - Recycling cell phones helps the environment by saving energy and keeping useable and valuable materials out of landfills and incinerators. Cell phones are made from precious metals, copper, and plastics—all of which require energy to mine and manufacture. Recycling these materials not only conserves resources, but prevents air and water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions.

Recycling: a Social Call - Donating your cell phone also benefits your community. When cell phones and accessories are in good working condition, some programs donate them to a number of worthy charities or provide them for discounted sale to those who need them. In addition, many recycling programs use the proceeds to raise funds for charitable organizations, schools, churches and other social causes. In some cases, programs buy the phone back from the consumer.

For an interesting look at how the recycling process works (complete with pictures), check out:
Eco-Mobilize.com

To learn more, go to www.epa.gov/cellphones

Replanting the Rainforests Campaign

2009-04-08T23:41:00.000-07:00

I committed to be a "volunteer blogger" for the pilot Replanting the Rainforests Campaign this year. The Replanting the Rainforests program is a fantastic program that is currently running the "Earth Day Birthday Gift to Our Planet Campaign" - a grassroots effort designed to tap into the power of blogging, volunteering, and social networking to spread the word about the campaign, and to make a difference through contributions, no matter how small. The ultimate goal is to raise $1 million by April 22, Earth Day in order to replant the rainforests.

Not another Conservation Program

This is not a Conservation Program. Conservation is critical, but 80% of the planets native forests are gone and conservation is no longer enough.

Not another Tree Planting Program

This is not simply Tree Planting program. There are several other tree planting programs, but these programs are fatally flawed. These programs do not have control of the lands where the trees are planted and in most cases the trees are planted in areas that have a history of deforestation.

Three "Critical Need" Projects for 2009

Borneo Reforestation - Save the Orangutans

Costa Rica Playa el Rey Reforestation - Saving Mono Titi

Belize Reforestation - Save the Jaguar

Sustainably Managed Permanent Rainforest Habitats

The Replanting the Rainforest Program creates Sustainably Managed Permanent Rainforest Habitats. Within these habitats both sustainable forestry and permagriculture techniques will be employed that will as close as possible mimic natural processes so as not to upset the continuity of the forest environment. The natural array of biodiversity is meticulously safeguarded, while at the same time the economic engine necessary is created to prevent the un-sustainable exploitation of the resource.

For more information, see: www.replantingtherainforests.org

Make the Easy Choice
Volunteer, Learn, Spread the Word, Blog, Contribute (no amount too small) to help replant the rainforests. It's our planet to nurture. We take so much from it, it's time to give back.

Seattle Green Festival 2009 Wrap-Up

2009-03-31T05:42:00.000-07:00

To start my wrap-up of the Seattle Green Festival, check out my video introduction to the Green Festival as my first-ever foray into the world of an on-camera "Media Volunteer Host":

I attended both days of the Green Festival and just had a complete blast, and learned a lot too. Read all about my experience (and my personal product picks here):

I signed up to volunteer and thought I would be staffing the Green Festival Booth or maybe the Store (which I did for about 4 hours) but actually, I had a chance to try out my chops as an on-air correspondent when I was thrust, completely unprepared, but completely game for the experience, into the role of a media volunteer. Highlighting the power of Twitter as a real connectivity tool (naysayers and non-twitterers listen up!), I linked up with Jack Olmsted, a technology journalist and video blogger here in Seattle after he sent me a Direct Message on Twitter following one of my tweets in which I stated I'd be volunteering this weekend for the GreenFest. He asked me if I would be photographing the event as a media volunteer, and I replied, no, not officially, but would be interested in generally capturing the event in as many forms as possible for my blog. He then suggested I contact him as the Media Corps was looking for on-air interviewers. The next thing I knew, I was introducing the festival, before going on to interview NYTimes bestselling author and award winning host of the grassroots national radio/TV show Democracy Now, Amy Goodman, meeting one of America's most influential chefs, Alice Waters, recognized as starting the local organic food revolution that she initiated in Berkeley, CA in 1971, and speaking with the charismatic and environmentally passionate co-founder of Global Exchange and the Green Festivals, Kevin Danaher.

I also interviewed the Green Festivals Web Director, Ann Bennington, as she manned the "live-blogging" zone and talked about the importance of social networking technology in generating a buzz around this year's festival and educating people about important issues. As we spoke about it, the twitter feed for the Seattle Green Festival was constantly updating with user-submitted posts behind us on a screen for all to see (see below). For all of the related posts, check out the Twitter Feed specific to the GreenFest on the Media page of Greenfestivals.org: (www.greenfestivals.org/twitter).

The festival was a huge success with over 125 speakers and something like 350 booths and vendors, with over 40,000 in attendance. Some of my favorite vendors were:

* Pangea Organics (www.pangeaorganics.com): One of my favorite skincare/bath products companies anyway, so I was so excited to do a promo spot on air for them where I had to describe what I "Always" and "Never" do for the environment ("Always Recycle! Even if it means carrying bottles and cans around in my purse all day until I get back home/Never will drive a car if I don't have to - I haven't owned one for 15 years!") and got a really awesome t-shirt and a bunch of yummy skincare products as thanks.
* Electric Bikes: I didn't even know these existed! They are something of a cross between a motorcycle and a bicycle, except there is a removable battery that is charged by pedaling or plugging it in, and takes over when you just get too tired to pedal any longer, there's a daunting hill and you're not Lance Armstrong, or you want to solve the problem of riding your bike to work for health and environmental reasons but don't want to get your suit sweaty (these run between $1400-$2700 and are just arriving in the US from the UK - sold initially through REI).
* Spun (www.choosespun.com): An organic eco-fashion clothing line based here in Seattle, owned by designer and new Twitter friend Sara Suemae
* Conscious Choice Magazine (www.consciouschoice.com): This freely distributed, beautifully designed magazine dedicated to healthy, conscious living will be folding in print format as of its April (Earth Day-focused issue, how ironic). Until now, the magazine has been gracing local coffeeshops and green markets in only three cities: Seattle, San Francisco, and Los Angeles. The magazine will be transitioning, like so many other print media, to a purely online format. I spoke with the editors staffing the booth about submitting pieces as a contributing writer to their new online magazine. I'm so excited about the possibility to contribute content to one of my favorite magazines that has pointed me towards local hidden treasures like Dinette (one of my favorite restaurants in Seattle), the Life In Balance Ayurvedic Center (where I received the best massage and Sirodhara treatment of my life), local reiki and massage therapists and many thought-provoking articles worthy of scanning and saving.
* Clif Bar: What would my 10-12 hour hikes be like without Clif Bars? Probably about half that length and then I'd be stranded on top of some mountain. I didn't really know they used all organic ingredients and beyond that, are extremely proactive about protecting the environment and reducing their ecological footprint. I was most impressed by their "Wrapper Brigade" program, in which Clif Bar has teamed up with TerraCycle to reduce the number of energy bar wrappers ending up in the landfill, and to educate people about the benefits of reusing waste materials. The Wrapper Brigade program allows schools, offices, community organizations, and even individuals to earn money for charity by collecting used wrappers and sending them in (shipping is free). For every wrapper the Brigade receives, they will donate 2 cents to a nonprofit of the collector’s choice. The wrappers then will be woven into strong material, and made into eco-chic products. See Terracycle(www.terracycle.net) for more info and to sign up.