sustainable

Sustainable Sushi Guide

scleaver — Fri, 24 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

If sushi might be on your menu this weekend, consider downloading a sustainable sushi guide to bring along with you. We’ve covered sustainable fish guides, but there’s a new guide out this month, and the guides in general are a wonderful, useful way to eat sustainably wherever you are. (To read what we’ve covered, here are past blog posts about mercury dangers and sustainable seafood.)

Sushi restaurants are, apparently, behind the curve when it comes to serving sustainable options, unlike chefs who cook fish at general seafood restaurants, sushi chefs may not know where fish came from and whether it was farmed or caught. And, too many of us don’t even think about sustainability when choosing our maki rolls or platters and order plates and plates of over-fished or endangered fish. For example, right now, mackerel is in and octopus is out, according to the AP on MSNBC.com, while bluefin tuna is very, very out. Other fish to avoid: monkfish, freshwater eel,l and red snapper.

Download a guide from The Monterey Bay Aquarium or The Environmental Defense Fund to use this weekend.

Photo of a sushi bouquet from The New York Sushi Blog.

Green Your Sweet Tooth

scleaver — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Hershey’s is “milk chocolate” no more; now it’s “chocolate candy” instead, because the company replaced the cocoa butter with vegetable oil in an attempt to reduce costs. But, as Eat. Drink. Better. reported, Hershey’s has never been the best at providing fair trade (not to mention green) chocolate anyway. So, with sweet tooth holidays from Halloween to Christmas approaching, here’s how to satisfy your chocolate fix and keep it environmentally friendly:

Eat organic: Organic chocolate is grown and harvested using eco-friendly methods and sustainable agriculture, as well as rBGH hormone free milk.

Look for fair trade labels: low wages, child slavery, and unsafe working conditions are a problem in the cacao industry, a fair trade label ensures that your delicious snack was harvested by farmers who were paid fairly and had safe working conditions. Learn more about that fair trade chocolate campaign at The Global Exchange.

Organic and fair trade chocolates are on shelves everywhere from Target to Whole Foods.

Go for artisan chocolates: Instead of going national, buy local or regional chocolates.

Looking for organic, fair trade, artisan on the web?

Try Coco Zen, Earth's Sweet Pleasures, or Dagoba Organic Chocolate for organic chocolate products. Equal Exchange for fair trade products. And, Theo Chocolate for organic, fair-trade and bean-to-bar.

Photo from Dagoba Organics.

Sustainable Happy Hour

scleaver — Fri, 22 Aug 2008 11:01:39 -0400

I had an organic beer the other day and it was delicious, but after a hard week, let’s face it, sometimes you want something a little harder. Enter Eat. Drink. Better’s review of organic vodkas, and not a moment too soon! Here are the four organic, sustainable vodkas highlighted:

Vodka 360 The World’s First Eco-Luxury Vodka is “four times distilled, five times filtered.” The recycled glass bottles come with caps that you can mail back to the factory to be reused. Recommended for use with mixers.

Square One Organic Vodka is made from organically grown American rye and the byproduct ends up as food for cows at nearby dairy farms.

Vodka 14, The Height of Purity, is made in Colorado, 80 proof, distilled with Deep Rock water.

Prairie Organic Vodka is a corn vodka, after the vodka’s made the leftover corn is used as energy to run the factory. Apparently, corn-based vodka has more apple, pear, and melon tones with more creaminess than a rye distilled vodka.

How to drink vodka? Freeze the bottle overnight, let the vodka warm slightly before swirling and tasting. For more tips visit Vodkaphiles.com. And, for specific taste and flavor advice, see the Eat. Drink. Better. eco-vodka blog post. Cheers!

Photo from DK Images.

Can Skyscraper Farming Work in Big Cities?

scleaver — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Imagine a skyscraper that looms above New York or Shanghai and is filled, not with offices or condos, but with acres of fresh fruits and vegetables ready to feed hungry pedestrians hurrying past on the streets below.

That’s the idea behind Columbia University professor Dickson Despommier’s “Vertical Farm” project. Despommier came up with the idea in 1999 in one of his courses and the idea is now catching on, a few architects are interested and, as The New York Times reported, Scott Stringer, a Manhattan borough president, is looking into it too.

Stringer is currently sketching a pilot farm for New York City and is plotting ways to get the $20 to $30 million that Despommier estimates it would take to build a prototype, not to mention the millions more to build an actual 30-tower farm.

Of course, not everybody is on board with Despommier’s dream. Jerry Kaufman, professor of urban planning at the University of Wisconsin, Madison suggests a six-story farm instead of a 30-story version. Armando Carbonell, chairman of the department of planning and urban form at the Lincoln Institute of Land Policy in Cambridge, MA is concerned about the economic realities. “Would a tomato in lower Manhattan be able to outbid an investment banker for space in a high-rise?” he wondered to the New York Times. “My bet is that the investment banker would pay more.” And, of course, there are the concerns over how to keep the farm running smoothly, energy efficient, and producing food that’s safe to eat. It’s no small project, but then, Despommier has never claimed that its anything less than fantastic.

For more: See photos of skyscraper farms the Times article. Check out Despommier’s web site to learn about his project and see more Vertical Farm designs. Read about the off-grid downtown vertical farm for Seattle.

What do you think—are vertical farms in the future? How much of your produce would you want to get from your local vertical farm, if one was nearby?

Photo from the Vertical Farm web site.

Sticker Shock

scleaver — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:12:33 -0400

Green has never been more popular. And, as the trend spreads, we’re still figuring out just what it all means. Take food. Today’s Eat.Drink.Better blog post was about defining sustainable cuisine, which is more than organic, but is, “a way of growing, shipping, processing, preparing and eating foodstuff that doesn’t deplete the natural food systems that create the product.”

I’d love to eat sustainable, but even as green, earth-friendly, organic labels have spread, there still isn’t a one-size-fits-all sustainable label. So, given that sustainable is the best combination of local, organic, fair trade, pesticide free, and any other causes that you care about (no genetic engineering, perhaps) that you can find, you can combine labels to ensure that you’re getting the most sustainable foods possible in your grocery store.

Check out the Consumer Reports Eco-Label Tools for all your label needs. The site includes a virtual kitchen with explanations about how common foods are labeled, descriptions of what various labels mean for foods, household products, and more, and some search tools for labels and certifiers. I was unaware of many of these labels, like the Protected Harvest label that certifies a food, like strawberries or potatoes, as grown using integrated pest management techniques that use as few pesticides as possible.

How often do you read labels? And, can a little sticker sway your purchase?

Image of a Fair Trade logo from the Consumer Reports Eco-Label tool.

Biking Made Just a Bit More Comfy

Julia — Tue, 20 May 2008 19:29:20 -0400

Biking for miles on end can be a real pain in the butt, literally. But Greenknickers has arrived to solve all of your sore bum woes.

The eco-friendly company makes all types of funky undies, which can be purchased online at their website, www.greenknickers.org. Say founders Sarah and Rose, “We started Greenknickers to prove that ethical choices can be funny, beautiful and sexy. The logical place to start was obviously knickers!”

The cycling knickers have a removable padding inside that cushions you for support on the bicycle. They are made from 70 percent bamboo, which is particularly soft and good if participating in sports, and 30 percent organic cotton.

That’s not even the coolest thing on the site though. Other unique designs include Global Warming Knickers, which has a picture of a globe in the front. The catch is that once warmed up, the sea begins to take over the land on the globe, showing the effects of global warming.
There are also Seasonal Knickers with autumn-like trees, but again, once warmed up the leaves fall off, creating more of a winter feel.

The UK company has come up with something quite original, if I do say so myself. Also on their site, you can read their blog or subscribe to their newsletter. Boxers are also available, and if your looking to heat things up, check out the silky hemp undies!

What Will You Bring?

scleaver — Thu, 15 May 2008 00:00:00 -0400

Looking for something to do on Friday night? Well, who doesn’t love a potluck? You choose one dish to bring and, in return, you get to eat a whole buffet and enjoy the company of friends.

Four couples in Woodstock, OR, the self-proclaimed Green Team, are taking potlucks to a new level and celebrating the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) in the process. They hosted their first sustainable potluck in September—the peak of harvest. Everybody brought an all-local dish and came ready to explain and defend their green cooking, from how they chose the veggies to how they disposed of any waste created during cooking.

The menu: lamb casserole with eggplant and applesauce, tomato and cucumber salad, roasted carrots and potatoes, wheat berry salad, and peach cobbler.

The conversation: solar energy, recycling, how to store food without using plastics, and organ donation.

And that was only the first dinner. Since that first harvest, the Green Team has added couples, dishes, and changed it up at their monthly meetings, hosting a brunch in January, and a pizza party using canned tomatoes from their 2007 gardens in March.

So, as this year’s growing season gears up, how are you going to enjoy the bounty?

Photo from a vegetarian potluck of Southern Californian Vegetarians.

Shuttle the Students

akronheim — Fri, 04 Apr 2008 13:43:37 -0400

Since Ithaca College signed on to The Presidents Climate Commitment Committee, part of the American College and University Presidents’ Climate Commitment, everyone in the campus community has to figure out how to get our carbon emissions down in order to be carbon neutral. The Student Government Association (SGA) has proposed using a shuttle to take students from the Circle apartments to the campus for class. It's a 20-30 minute walk, so a shuttle would be very useful.

This would definitely benefit the traffic congrestion and reduce the college's carbon emissions. The shuttle might even use biodiesel instead of regular gasoline. In fact, current personal transport numbers would be cut in half if 100% of circles residents used it everyday instead of driving. University of Maryland has a free shuttle in that if you show your student I.D. you can ride the public bus for free. Penn State provides a free shuttle that travels all around campus. Penn State also facilitates carpooling to campus in making available interested parties and their schedules in the Student Affairs Office for students to check out. Even nearby Cornell has a shuttle and an online resource for carpooling students to connect.

If all of these schools can get a shuttle and/or a carpool parking option, IC can do the same. SGA sent out a survey to gauge how valuable a shuttle from the Circles would be and with these results we'll see if they can persuade the powers that be. If you read my previous blog entitled "Generation Quiet?" you'd know that I was working on a proposal for a carpool lot on campus as well. And just so you know, Parking Services is looking into the carpool lot due to our call-in day, and two school newspapers have opinion peices about it. Thanks a bunch if you called! SGA was responsive to the carpool lot idea as well, but more keen on a shuttle because it would service so many people concretely. Either way works for me! But both the carpool lot and shuttle would be best. That way on and off campus students could participate in reduce the IC carbon footprint. And if all of those other schools can do it, we definitely can.

Fundraising ADDS UP!

Julia — Sat, 22 Mar 2008 22:29:01 -0400

If you’re looking for a unique and environmentally ethical fundraiser idea, look no further than WE ADD UP fundraising t-shirts. The WE ADD UP fundraising project is an opportunity for schools, colleges, and non-profits to educate their community and make a real impact.

WE ADD UP is a global campaign using organic cotton t-shirts that literally “counts you in” in the fight against global warming. Every tee is one of a kind, in that it is printed with one unique number which represents your place in the sequential global count of all the people who are taking steps to help stop climate change. On the back of each shirt is a word or phrase that describes an action almost anyone can take to reduce their carbon footprint - the contribution their lifestyle makes to greenhouse gases - such as, Unplug, Lights Off, Carpool, Hybrid, Bike, Buy Local, and 18 others. You choose which action you are committed to doing and get counted in.

They pride themselves in the concept of, “No one can do everything. Everyone can do something. And, WE ADD UP.” Groups also receive 20% off all sales and there are no up front costs included. Kids t-shirts are also available! So you can fundraise at any ago level!

This is not all that can be purchased on the website devoted to end global warming, one person at a time. There are also tote bags available, made with fair labor and 100% cotton. Americans run through an overwhelming 380 billion plastic bags per year - and only about 5.2% are recycled. In landfills, plastic bags take over 1,000 years to biodegrade. The tote explains itself by saying you will take neither plastic nor paper bags.

WE ADD UP water bottles are also available. It is really important to remember that plastic water bottles are one of the biggest wastes this country contributes. They are everywhere, and so convenient that you just can’t help it sometimes. Over 85% of plastic water bottles in the US end up as garbage and take up to 1,000 years to biodegrade. Americans spend nearly $11 billion each year on bottled water. Invest in a water bottle for life and this will be a huge contribution to your ethical environmental impact!

The same goes for reusable coffee mugs. Americans throw away 25 billion styrofoam cups every year. You can bring a traveling mug to any café, and lots of times, independent shops offer discounts for filling up your reusable mug.

Count yourself in and contribute to the end of global warming now! WE ADD UP. Check it out at: www.weaddup.com.

Casting a Wary Eye on Your Chicken Dinner

scleaver — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 -0500

Imagine chickens in an ideal farmyard, strutting around and picking at the ground, pulling out worms and bits of grass for lunch. Now, imagine chickens with pecs the size of softballs, too heavy to walk without falling forward, stumbling across a huge, overcrowded barn in a mad rush to the feed bin.

Nobody wants to think about it before they sit down to a chicken dinner, but chickens are being bred to have the chicken equivalent of double Ds more often than we think. Reported on February 12, on the Food Law Blog, British researchers are working on a new study that investigates broiler chickens that are bred to have huge breasts. These broilers, according to the study and Food Law Blog, “have been shown to exhibit difficulty walking, despite culling practices that were designed to remove severely lame birds from flocks.”

In fact, more than 27% of the birds had trouble walking, and 3.3% couldn’t walk at all—and this isn’t because they’re sick or because there are too many birds in the pen for them to really move, it’s because they’ve been bred to have breasts so big that they can’t carry their own weight. They have trouble standing up straight, much less move the way a chicken should.

How did this happen? The report points to “intense genetic selection” that has produced a bird that grow up to 100 grams each day, instead of the regular 25 grams. These big-breasted chickens, however, are, in some part, meeting consumer demand for larger chicken breasts.

What’s the solution? It’s simple: return chickens to the way they were meant to be raised (see scenario one above). The report recommends returning to a sustainable model of breeding chickens, which should include, not only shrinking the chicken’s breasts, but also changing our expectation in the meat section to a more reasonable, and mobile, chicken.