This Week I Will Be a Locavore

Locavore. Great new word coined in 2005. Oxford American Dictionary word of the year for 2007.

It means a person who eats locally grown and produced food. This food can come from home or community gardens or from local commercial farmers. Since the point of eating locally is to encourage sustainable food practices and enjoy healthier, tastier food, locavores generally care about how food is grown and prepared. Most want to buy from growers who use no or minimal pesticides and chemical fertilizers. While there are many really good reasons to be a locavore, the one that got me willing to try it, is the tremendous cost to the environment of moving food around. Food transportation has become one of the biggest and fastest-growing sources of greenhouse gas emissions worldwide. The average food item on an American plate has traveled almost 1500 miles. Even foods grown close by are often shipped hundreds of miles to be processed and distributed and then returned to where they started. Oh, and I also like that local food doesn’t need to be packed to travel, so forget those big plastic clamshells. The exact definition of locavore is open to some interpretation. Most locavores try to keep their food sources to a 100 mile radius. Though, while this might be fine in California, locavores in regions without much agriculture expand their areas. Also, some people pick a just few items to eat locally, at least to start. My plan for this week is to eat as locally as I can as much as possible. I’ll try for the 100 mile radius and to stay conscious of where my food comes from. 

How will I eat locally?

I am fortunate enough to live in northern California, where some of the best produce in the world is grown. So I figure, why do I need cherries from Chile in January? When I was growing up I had no expectations of getting watermelon in the dead of winter. I got food in season. Fruits, vegetables, fish even some meats had a season. We waited for peaches, zucchini, apples and snapper. We ate canned and dried fruits in the winter. This wasn’t all that long ago, but I’ve grown accustomed to making my favorite soup whenever I want with ingredients from all over the globe. I usually don’t think about cooking with what’s available this time of year. I decide what I want and then buy the ingredients. So, change number one will have to be to let what’s in season drive what I make for dinner. I will also try some of these are some suggestions from Jennifer Maiser’s 10 Ways to Become a Locavore:

• Go to a farmers market.
• Ask the supermarket manager where their meat, produce and dairy are coming from.
• Choose 5 foods in your house that you can buy locally. Rather than trying to source everything locally all at once, try swapping out just 5 local foods. Fruits and vegetables that can be grown throughout the continental U.S. include apples, root vegetables, lettuce, herbs and greens. In most areas, it's also possible to find meat, poultry, eggs, milk, and cheese—all grown, harvested and produced close to your home.
• Find a local CSA and sign-up! Through a CSA—Community Supported Agriculture—program you invest in a local farm in exchange for a weekly box of assorted vegetables and other farm products.
• Find out what restaurants in your area support local farmers. You can do this by asking the restaurants about their ingredients directly, or by asking your favorite farmers what restaurant accounts they have. Frequent the businesses that support your farmers
• Visit a farm. (I’ll probably save this for the spring and take the kids)

Why should I be a locavore?

To start with, local food tastes better. Fruits and veggies can be picked ripe and are often picked only hours before you buy them. Also, tastier varieties are grown when a farmer isn’t trying to maximize for travel durability. Eating local foods also may actually force more variety into my family’s diet. If I can’t get that New Zealand apple, I might try a local purple cauliflower. And I know there are local, healthy choices for bread, honey and cheeses, which I bet are pretty tasty too. I just have to find out what they are. And, as I mentioned above, less travel means lower CO2 emissions and less packaging. A study in Iowa found that a regional diet consumed 17 times less oil and gas than a typical diet based on food shipped across the country.

Originally, I was afraid of this week. But after doing a little research, I’m actually looking forward to it. There were more resources to help me be a locavore than I thought. I went from feeling overwhelmed to feeling excited to try new things. I’ll have some fun with food while doing good for the environment. That sounds like a good week.

Locavores.com

http://www.locavores.com/

Find a 100 mile radius:

http://100milediet.org/get-started/map

USDA’s farmers market guide:

http://apps.ams.usda.gov/FarmersMarkets/

Community Supported Agriculture

http://www.localharvest.org/csa/

There’s an app for that:

http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/locavore/id306140158?mt=8

The reviews are mixed, but for $2.99 I’d try it – if I had an iPhone

The Worldwatch Institute

http://www.worldwatch.org/node/4132

“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.

This Week I Will Plant a Tree

Yesterday was Tu B'Shevat, the Jewish new year just for trees. How cool is that? On Tu B’Shevat we celebrate trees. We are thankful for what they give us and appreciative of how important they are to our survival. We acknowledge their slow growth and long lives. We wait patiently for young trees to bear fruit. We affirm our commitment to protect existing trees and plant new ones. We eat lots of fruit. I grew up in a Jewish neighborhood, in a Jewish household, but somehow Tu B’Shevat didn’t make it onto my radar until my kids came home from Sunday school with flyers about planting trees. Now, I celebrate Tu B’Shevat in various ways. This year I will write about the importance of our forested lands and this week I will plant a tree. Oh, and this bit about being good to trees, it comes from the Old Testament.

Why do we need trees?

Sounds like a silly question, but when I started gathering facts, some of the answers were astounding. For example, according to the U.S. Forest Service, U.S. forests sequester 827 tons, or nearly 10% of our CO₂ emissions each year. Also, trees are so important that deforestation is the second biggest contributing factor to global climate change. That’s huge.

Here are a few more points adapted from Twenty-nine Reasons for Planting Trees compiled by Glenn Roloff, USDA Forest Service (http://www.treelink.org/docs/29_reasons.phtml):

• 1 acre of new forest will sequester about 2.5 tons of carbon annually.
•  Trees can absorb CO₂ at the rate of 13 pounds/tree/year.
• Trees reach their most productive stage of carbon storage at about 10 years.
• Planting 100 million trees could reduce the amount of carbon by an estimated 18 million tons per year and at the same time, save American consumers $4 billion each year on utility bills.
• Trees prevent or reduce soil erosion and water pollution.
• Shade from trees can reduce utility bills for air conditioning by 15-50%.
• Windbreaks around homes shield against wind and snow and reduce heating costs by as much as 30%.
• One of every four pharmaceutical products used in the U.S. comes from a plant found in a tropical forest.
• Trees provide habitat for wildlife.

Where will I plant a tree?

I don’t know yet. There’s nowhere to plant on my property right now, so I will look into the organizations that will plant a tree for me. In the past I have done this through the Nature Conservancy and through the JNF. Many organizations will plant trees in honor or memory of a loved one and will send you a certificate to keep or give as a gift. And planting a tree won’t break the bank; you can spend as little as a dollar a tree. Here are a few organizations that will plant a tree for you or help you plant your own:

Friends of the Urban Forest

http://www.fuf.net/treePlanting/index.html

The Nature Conservancy

http://adopt.nature.org/plantabillion/brazil/gift.html

Jewish National Fund

http://www.jnf.org/support/tree-planting-center/

United Nations Billion Tree Campaign

http://www.unep.org/billiontreecampaign/

Arbor Day Foundation

http://www.arborday.org/

Happy planting!

“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.

How Not Using Plastic Bags is Going

So, the very first day I had a bag dilemma. I bought a flat of strawberries at the farmers market and the only way to keep them from getting squished by the other vegetables in my canvas bag was to keep them together in a plastic bag. The grower, bag in hand, thought I was nuts as I stood there unable to decide what to do with my strawberries. Then I got home and in the mail was a catalog I actually wanted to get. Neatly sealed in a plastic bag. I’m okay with a messy catalog. I’m not leaving it out on the coffee table for guests. But I don’t get any say in the matter except to cancel it, which I’m loath to do since I need this pristine supply catalog for my business. Then I got to work, which led to another bag debacle. I was designing and making earrings when I started to accumulate a tiny plastic mountain of itty-bitty Ziplocs. All of my jewelry components are shipped to me in very, very small plastic bags. And once I use up the supplies the bags get tossed. Over the following days I’ve been presented with one bag crisis after another. It seems like my whole life is wrapped in plastic. I’ve been good about taking my own bags with me for all my shopping, and I’ve stayed away from all but the most necessary plastic wrapped food staples, but it’s been impossible to avoid plastics bags like I’d hoped.

This Week I Will Not Use Plastic Bags

I’ve been trying to figure out how to address the whole scary issue of plastics and break the issues down into manageable bits when a friend sent me a video on plastic bags. What a great place to start. Being environmentally conscious, I already keep an assortment of plastic, paper and cloth bags in my car for when I shop. But I don’t always remember to take them into the store. And I’m usually too lazy to go back to the car. Or, I go into the supermarket for a couple of things and remember to bring a bag, one bag - for what turns into a full cart.

 

I already know this is going to be a challenge because I’ve started to scope out the food possibilities for things that don’t come in plastic bags. Sounds simple? Try buying bread the kids will eat. Even so, my original plan was to buy no plastics at all for a week. No bags is way more manageable.

So, this week I will not accept or buy anything in a plastic bag. Also, I will not put anything in a baggie or Ziploc. This will reduce my plastic consumption and eliminate my contribution to the plastic bag refuse. (I want to disclose one exception I have to make. I have a very large dog to clean up after. I bought biodegradable bags with the hope that these are more environmentally friendly than Safeway bags.) I also won’t just opt for paper, since it’s no environmental bargain either (but that’s for another week). I’ll carry my veggies loose and bring previously used or reusable bags. I’ll even go back to the car when I forget!

Why Bother?

Most of us are pretty savvy about the problems with plastics sitting in our landfills. Many of us reject bags offered to us at stores. Even so, when I started looking into this issue I was surprised at how huge and detrimental the problem really is. The good news is that it’s within our power to fix it.

• Plastic bags aren’t biodegradable. They go through a process called photodegradation—breaking down into smaller toxic particles that contaminate soil and water, and enter the food chain when animals ingest them.
• Over 380 billion plastic bags are used in the United States every year.
• According to various estimates, Taiwan consumes 20 billion plastic bags (900 per person), Japan consumes 300 billion bags (300 per person), and Australia consumes 6.9 billion plastic bags (326 per person) each year.
• A single plastic bag can take up to 1,000 years to degrade.
• Hundreds of thousands of whales, dolphins, sea turtles and other marine mammals die every year after eating discarded plastic bags they mistake for food.
• Plastic bags are almost everywhere from Spitsbergen 78° North [latitude] to Falklands 51° South [latitude]
• Plastic bags litter has even become commonplace in Antarctica and other remote areas.
• Ireland, Taiwan, South Africa, Australia, and Bangladesh have heavily taxed plastic bags or banned their use outright.

Awesome Plastic Rap Video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koETnR0NgLY&feature=player_embedded

Good Video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhxX1g9A2OM

Good Article

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2003/09/0902_030902_plasticbags.html

Good Website

http://www.reuseit.com/learn-more/top-facts/plastic-bag-facts

“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet

This Week I Will Make a Resolution

My plan for starting this blog was to be more environmentally aware, break issues down into small manageable bites and, hopefully, to lead by example. So far, the process has definitely made me change my behavior for the better. Before I get to resolutions, I’ll use this New Year’s post to tell you how I fared with some of the previous weeks’ commitments.

This Week I Will Start a Blog

Done, whew!

This Week I Will Read One Book on Sustainable Living

Still reading. Cradle to Cradle is really interesting, but way dense for bedtime reading. The two authors have some incredible ideas on how to save the world without giving up the stuff we love. I both wish everyone would read this book to help change our mindsets about manufacturing, building and energy and wish it was just a little bit lighter. I do find myself talking to people about the ideas in the book and that’s probably the most important thing.

This Week I Will Eat No Meat

This was a really easy week until we went out for Indian food. Yes, there are wonderful vegetarian Indian dishes, but I have a terrible weakness for tandori chicken. Anyway, I ate almost no meat and the kids were fine with lots of pasta. I wound up cooking more than usual and they were good with that, too.

This Week I Will Use Freecycle

This was probably my favorite change so far. I love Freecycle. It’s very friendly, easy to get rid of things I don’t need and easy to ask for things I do need. My kids have started asking me to “Freecycle” things for them. I have a big issue with tossing useful stuff in the landfill and buying new things that use up resources, so it’s really a perfect solution for me.

This Week I Will Make a Donation

Done. I sent $50 to the Union of Concerned Scientists. (I sent my donation by December 31^st, so it would be matched and doubled.)

This Week I Will Stop My Junk Mail

I think it’s getting better, but it’s really hard to tell yet. I continue to stop new junk mail by calling companies as the junk comes in.

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Hmm, I guess I’m trying to avoid making a resolution. I’m thinking of two things; either reading more scientific literature on environmental issues (living with a physicist should make getting materials pretty straightforward) or getting more readers for my blog. Though, marketing for readers feels overwhelming to me. Can’t it just spontaneously go viral? Anyway, after sleeping on it, I decided go for the reading. So, my environmental New Year’s resolution is to read more scientific articles and papers on environmental issues.

Happy New Year!

Rhonda

“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.

This Week I Will Make a Donation

For the last week and a half, I haven’t left the house without an armload of gifts. Family, teachers, friends, parties: gifts for everyone. So, while I’m doling out the presents, how about a little something for our planet? I could give the earth some nice compost or a homemade “Please Recycle!” poster. I could promise to be a better steward this year and get my family and friends to improve with me. But I’d like to shop for something that can be used right away, so I will check out environmental organizations on the internet and make a donation. In the past I’ve made contributions through the kid’s schools and activities. I’ve purchased rainforest acres through The Nature Conservancy (I love this program) and trees to be planted in Israel through the JNF. I’ve contributed to other programs as well over the years, but always when a cause comes to me, or in some cases, is forced on me. I’ve never sat back and thought about giving a gift to the earth and where it should go. I will think about it some more, but I will probably end up buying a membership to the Union of Concerned Scientists. I’ve been getting updates from a number of environmental organizations since starting this blog and I really like what I’ve been seeing come in from the UCS. Their emails include concrete things you can do to improve environmental legislation and realistic advice on changing your own habits. They send information on what you can do along with templates for letters, stickers to print out and addresses to send things. And their information comes mostly from the scientific community. I’m a sucker for good research data.

If you decide to spend a little money on the earth this year,

here are a few good gift ideas:

Environmental Defense Fund

http://www.edf.org/home.cfm

http://www.41pounds.org/

http://www.audubon.org/

Jewish National Fund

http://www.jnf.org/

National Wildlife Federation

http://www.nwf.org/

Natural Resources Defense Council

http://www.nrdc.org/

The Nature Conservancy

http://www.nature.org/

Union of Concerned Scientists

http://www.ucsusa.org/

These websites are worth checking out regardless of whether or not you want to donate. As I was getting the site addresses it took lots of restraint not to get lost in all the interesting information and projects.

Happy Holidays!!

Rhonda

“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.

This Week I Will Write an Environmental Christmas Song

Even though I don’t celebrate Christmas, I love the holiday spirit that fills every shop, classroom and home I go to. So, I figured what better in this season of giving than to make sure we give to each other without taking from the planet. Here, wishing you a very Happy Holiday, with no cost to the environment, Adam sings:

The Twelve Days of Environmentally
Conscious Christmas

The Twelve Days of Environmentally Conscious Christmas 

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
a Christmas tree that still has its roots

On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me 2 popcorn garlands

On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me 3 e-subscriptions

On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 4 bicycles

On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 5 Chevy Volts

On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 6 low flow faucets

On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me 7 cleaning lemons

On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 8 veggie dinners

On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 9 gifts wrapped in comics

On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 10 canvas bags

On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me 11 LED lights

On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me 12 rainforest acres

Day 1

You can buy a Christmas tree with roots which can be replanted into the ground so that you can reuse the tree next year. Friends of the Urban Forest of San Francisco (Fuf.net) rents nontraditional trees, such as Southern Magnolia and Strawberry, for $150, and replants them on city streets once Christmas is over.

Day 2

Try some old-fashioned, environmentally friendly garland like popcorn, cranberries and paper chains made from old magazines or junk mail.

Day 7

Lemons are one of the best natural cleaners around. They clean, disinfect, look pretty and smell fabulous.

Day 9

Try wrapping gifts in unusual choices like comics or magazine pages. Or scarves and dish cloths that become part of the gift.

Day 10

Take your own bags to do your shopping so you don’t wind up throwing away a pile of plastic.

Day 11

LED lights use 80-90% less energy compared to old light bulbs.

Day 12

Adopt an acre or more of rainforest through the Nature Conservancy. You can choose what region. http://adopt.nature.org/

Tikkun olam means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.

This Week I Will Turn My Garden Over

 Every year that I plan on planting I need to add nutrients back into the soil. One of the oldest and best ways to do this is to turn over the soil and let the remains of last year’s crop decompose to nourish next season’s vegetables. This is free, fairly easy when the soil is moist, smells really good and is great exercise.

Well, this was my plan for this week, but, Dang! The gardener apparently didn’t know my plans to be more eco efficient and threw away all my rotting vegetation while I was out. Now I’ll have to call the city (again!) to see if the compost program is running yet. They’ve been collecting green waste for years now, and we’re supposed to be able to get the compost to use at home. That was the original plan, anyway. I called the first two years of the program to find out about obtaining some of that great garden compost, but they weren’t distributing it yet. That was quite a while ago, so I guess it’s time to check in on the program again.

Planting some of your own food is good on so many counts. There’s nothing like fresh picked vegetables for both taste and nutrition. And you can decide how many chemicals you want, or don’t want, to use. I’m constantly surprised at how beautifully everything grows with barely anything more than water. Flowering gardens of all kinds encourage visits from bees and provide them with food. As far as global warming goes, eating what I grow at home means I didn’t drive to get it, I didn’t put it in a plastic bag (or my favorite, the bag within a bag), no one else flew it, trucked it or shipped it anywhere. And plants suck up CO₂ we want to get rid of. I’ve had a veggie garden since I was a kid and I could go on and on, but suffice it to say, growing food is all good.

I’m not going to plan what to grow this year quite yet. I’m just assuring that when the spring comes, I’ll be ready and so will my soil. I also have some composting/soil questions I’ll look into this week. Like, why can’t I just toss my green waste straight into the garden area – or can I?

Here are some articles that give more detail about gardens and the environment:

http://www.ezgarden.com/Articles/Benefits-of-Vegetable-Gardening/Protect-Environment-with-Vegetable-Garden.aspx

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/20/magazine/20wwln-lede-t.html?_r=1&pagewanted=4

The President's garden:

http://environment.about.com/od/greenlivingdesign/a/obama_garden.htm

“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.

This Week I Will Not Eat Meat

Back in the day when people ate their own chickens and cattle ranchers drove cattle hundreds of miles on foot to where they could be sold, meat was an accompaniment to a meal. It wasn’t exactly a luxury, but it was harder to get – more work, more money. People ate livestock more sparingly, filling their plates mostly with seasonal vegetables and cooked grains. Of course we now know that this is not only the most economical way to eat, it’s the healthiest.

But something happened in between. Meat became a symbol for prosperity. Providing for your family meant “putting meat on the table”. By the time I was growing up, a dinner plate had a large portion of beef, poultry or pork, a starch and a sad little pile of watery cooked frozen vegetables.

What does this have to do with the environment?

A lot. As the demand for meat grows the livestock industry is wreaking havoc on our environment, being a major contributor to land degradation, climate change, water shortage/pollution and loss of biodiversity. The following points are based on excerpts from Livestock’s Long Shadow – Environmental Issues and Options, a 416 page report from The Livestock, Environment and Development (LEAD) Initiative.

• Livestock grazing and feedcrop production accounts for 70 percent of all agricultural land use and 30 percent of the land surface of the planet.
• Due to enteric fermentation, manure and deforestation for pastures, the livestock sector is responsible for 18 percent of all greenhouse gas emissions. This is more than transport.
• The livestock sector emits 37 percent of the world’s anthropogenic methane, which has 23 times more global warming potential than CO₂.
• Livestock are responsible for 64 percent anthropogenic ammonia emissions, which contribute significantly to acid rain and ecosystem acidification.
• The livestock sector is responsible for 8 percent of global human water use.
• Pollution from animal wastes, antibiotics and hormones, feedcrop chemical pesticides and fertilizers, and pasture sediments are a major ecological problem.
• Livestock production is expected to double by 2050.

I should point out that the Livestock’s Long Shadow report isn’t all doom and gloom. It details ways in which livestock producers can manage their operations to mitigate the impact and damage of meat production. It also recommends sensible regulations to achieve this.  

So, that’s the industry’s problem, right?

In large part, yes. But we’re the ones stuck breathing cow farts. Which brings me to the wisdom of reducing the demand for meat. The less meat we eat, the fewer livestock animals are needed to support us. So, this week I will not buy or eat meat. I will have nice vegetarian meals with my family and see how it goes. (I have to admit upfront, that I’m not a big meat eater to start with and I’m expecting it to be pretty easy, except for listening to my kids whine.)

I planned to include more sources, but nearly everything I read was based on the same extensive report, Livestock’s Long Shadow – Environmental Issues and Options. You can download all 19 megabytes or just the executive summary.

Here are both links:

Livestock’s Long Shadow – Environmental Issues and Options

Full text:

ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0701e/a0701e.pdf

Summary:

ftp://ftp.fao.org/docrep/fao/010/a0701e/a0701e00.pdf

“Tikkun Olam” means, in its most basic form, repairing the world. It is an ancient term from long before we worried about carbon emissions or mercury in our fish. It promotes the idea that we are the stewards of our planet and we that must be constant and vigilant in our responsibility. And not only must we take care of the Earth and seas and creatures, but we have to fix what is broken. And this is our job for as long as we are on this planet.