Sticks and Carrots for Santa Barbara Businesses June 9, 2009

I have declared a war on styrofoam, so as of late I’ve been  giving local business who use it the business.

Sticks to the following pro-styrofoam businesses:

1. Blenders

2. Jack’s Bagels

3. Los Arroyos

4. Joe’s

Carrots to these planet friendly businesses:

1. Crush Cakes

2. Fresco

3. Hummingbird Cafe - also a fair trade business

4. The Burger Bus – These guys get a carrot and a pomegranate for using only local, organic, and/or sustainably raised food

There are more of both, I am sure, but these are the businesses I have noticed in the past few days. After taking my Fresco left-overs home in a cozy, unbleached compost-friendly container made of post-consumer waste, I found the gigantic styrofoam box for a tiny piece of chicken at Joe’s outright offensive. Then, to add insult to injury the waiter   put the styrofoam in a plastic bag!!!!

I’ll tell you one place I will absolutely never go back to, and that’s Jack’s Bagels. I knew in advance that my bagel sandwich was going to get stuffed into styrofoam, so I explicitly asked them to not do that, and please just wrap it in a piece of foil. This was no high maintence order for custom ingredients or sauces on the side, it was a very simple request that probably even would have saved them a few cents. Whether it was spite or benign apathy I will never know, but when my oder came in styrofoam I decided they will not get another dollar of my hard earned money until they change their ways.

For such a fashionable city, I find Santa Barbara’s excessive use of styrafoam suprising since it is so passe. Even McDonald’s got rid of styrafoam nearly two decades ago!

Locavorism Goes Corporate May 14, 2009

Yesterday the New York Times published an article about how Lays Chips (re PepsiCo) is a local food. The reasoning is that there is a chip manufacturing facility in Florida, and they buy their potatoes from farmers in Florida.

It’s a clever marketing concept. Too bad it doesn’t change the fact that 1 oz. of Lays chips still contain 10 grams of fat with 90% of its 150 calories from fat, 180 mg of sodium, and have no significant nutritional value.

I would also be curious about how much money the farmers share in the profits from each bag of chips sold. Do you think it’s a 50/50? You know, because there would be no Lays Chips if there were no potato farmers. And what is the true cost of a bag of chips when you factor in the production of them?

When the marketing campaign kicks off in a few weeks, as citizens we might be curious to know if Frito-Lay PepsiCo will be able to answer the following questions for us:

1. What sustainability practices are employed to mass produce such vast quantities of potatoes?

2. If the farms are not organic, what measures are taken to prevent chemical run-off into ground water or water-ways that lead to the ocean?

3. How many gallons of water are used to produce a bag of chips?

4. Where are the chip bags manufactured and what are they made of?

5. How many gallons of oil are used per year to distribute the chips to retailers?

6. Where does the corn oil the potatoes are fried in come from, and what are the production costs/impacts of that?

7. What is the carbon footprint of the chip manufacturing plants?

8. Are the chip makers and farmers well paid with generous retirement and health care policies?

I also found the timing of the NYT article to be interesting because yesterday Terry Gross of Fresh Air happened to interview David Kessler about the neurological response to highly salty, fatty processed foods. It turns out that the brain actually compels a person to overeat when exposed to these foods, and satiation mechanisms are actually over ridden. It gives weighty meaning to a past marketing slogan used by Lays, “Betcha You Can’t Eat Just One.”

How True! Because if we could eat just one Lay’s Potato Chip they would not be millionaires and we would not have an obesity crisis.

Unnecessary Plastic Goods, Clean Air, Fresh Water in Africa, and You… March 10, 2009

In a post a while back I made a reference to conspicuous consumption and global ethics. At the time I had no idea that the world economy was going to tank. I was writing from the perspective that our consumption in the U.S. was simply not sustainable. And so it is true – in more ways than I had imagined. I wasn’t aware that so many Americans were over their heads in mortgages and debt, I only knew that the production, distribution and disposal of all these consumer goods had an environmental ripple effect that was invisible to most people.

My intention was to encourage people to consume more consciously, and shop with intention and responsibility. I was wanting people to think about how the mindless shopping, the casual overuse of water and the accidental leaving on of lights impacts people they will likely never meet. For every light left on additional coal is burned, adding to greenhouse gases, and accelerating glacial melting.

I was also challenging people to think about why they buy, in addition to what they buy. Why do we need to own every movie we like on DVD? Why do we attach our egos to the latest fashion trends? Why is our identity embedded in the vehicle we drive? What does all this consumption indicate about our hunger, when our dinner plates are full? What “nutrient” is missing to make us so insatiable?

Most anyone who has traveled to financially destitute countries will tell you that they have never met so many joyful people, and they come away changed – knowing in their heart of hearts that wealth and possessions have nothing to do with happiness. My brother once called it “the mystery of misery.” Because you know logically that poverty is a hard, hard life filled with toil and uncertainly, but because of it, or perhaps in spite of it, the spirit of people in these communities is fully present.

“It’s embarrassing,” one friend said after living in an African village to build schools. “You know these people have nothing and the grandmother taking care of dozens of AIDS orphans insists you join them for a meal. You feel guilty eating their food because you know they have nothing to spare, but in the end you have been given the greatest gift, and it was the most amazing meal you ever had in your life because your soul feels nourished.”

Now we find ourselves in an economic crisis, with unique undertones that could turn out to be the perfect storm when you factor in climate change, and peak oil. I don’t want to come across as a Pollyanna about the financial hardships so many people are going through, but I do see this as an opportunity for us to reflect as a culture on how we can come together as communities, and begin feeding our spirits instead of our pockets.

For starters, the environmentally friendly choices are nearly always the better economic choices. Turning lights off in rooms not in use saves you money on your utility bill, while you do your part to reduce green house gas emissions. Re-using your ziplock bags can save you hundreds of dollars over the course of a year, and eating at home is better for your health, it saves you money, gas, and increases quality family time.

As communities, we are being given an opportunity to see how we can come together – a modern Stone Soup may be within our midst. You can see this especially with business models like Same Cafe, in Denver Colorado. At Same Cafe you pay for your food by donation, or you can work for it and lend a hand in the kitchen. The menu has no set prices, and meals are made from organic whole foods.

We live in a global world, and with that we have global responsibilities. Let’s come together during these trying times and bring out the best in one another. Use less so that those in need can have more. Feed your body and your spirit. If you’ve been laid off, use this time to get involved in a community project. If you’re gainfully employed, spend your money responsibly, consciously, and support fair trade and local businesses.

“Whether we and our politicians know it or not, Nature is party to all our deals and decisions.” -Wendell Berry

Namaste,

Sacred Harvest

Life Before Google January 31, 2008

Just a quick note because so much is going on – what with Miachal Pollan on a book tour, the New York Times reporting on the climate impact of eating meat, and Seventh Generation CEO Jerrffey Hollender’s excellent commenatry on the Clorox purchase of Burt’s Bees.
 I am catching up on all these current events and have found some exceptional new blogs. I still remember a time when I was buried in micro-film trying to get this kind of information. But now, POOF! If I can think of it, I can find it in seconds! I will list them below and add them to my blog log so you can reference them any time.

TreeHugger – International environmental reporting:

http://www.treehugger.com/

The Inspired Protagonist – Seventh Generation musings on corporate responsibility:

http://www.inspiredprotagonist.com/ 

GroovyGreen – Eco-living and news in the modern world:

http://www.groovygreen.com/groove/

Remember folks, why on earth would you bother to get a cake if you didn’t plan on eating it too.

Rain January 10, 2008

We waited for the rain like children anticipating a snow day. Clouds began to gather as early as Wednesday, and by Thursday the pregnant silence of the low pressure system had us squirming and giddy for the first drops to come. Every morning for three days I woke up, eager to hear the pitter patter of showers on my roof. Every place I went people were talking about how this storm won’t pass us over, and aren’t we ready for a soaking, and the cliche “a storm’s a comin’ ” was on everyone’s minds. So eager, like beggars, for rain this time around; fears of landslides and a re-enactment of the 2005 slides where ten people died and we were locked in with the 101 and the 54 closed for a week, were over-taken with this longing.

You have to understand, we have been teased several times this season by storms changing course at Conception Point, or dissolving out at sea long before they got anywhere near us. My husband made a new guideline of expectation. He now says he won’t believe the rain will come unless the meteorologists proclaim a 90% chance – and then hopefully the storm will make it here.

Further, it’s possible too that as a reader you are in your 8th week of hunkering down in a deluge of storms, and you think I sound like a lunatic rain-junkie. A fool that lost her way after leaving the clouds of the Northwest, and never learned how to adjust to a maddeningly temperate climate. While that’s true to a degree – I do find all this sun makes me a maniacal over-achiever, but you can’t possibly understand how dire it is to be without rain until you walk with it. Or without it, as the case may be.
When your hikes along canyon streams are oppressively hot in November, and you feel the aching thirst of the land as you trudge up crusty, brown creek-beds that look more like the badlands than the lush central coast landscape. When farmers are talking about how the harvest prospects are unknown for next year, and that we still may face ramifications from the random frosts and fires of the past two years. When you have had only half of your average rainfall in two years – these are the things that make you thirst.

And so we have rain; half as much in 3 days as we got in all of 2007. (3.5 inches this weekend versus 7 inches last year). The mountains are greening, the smell of water-rich soil permeates the air, and the risk of fire signs finally say “low.”

Catalog Hell November 21, 2007

It’s that time of year again – catalog inundation season. My tiny mail box is overwhelmed with an unfair percentage of the 53 million trees felled annually for the production of the 20 billion catalogs that clog the mailboxes of my fellow American’s each year. 

 

I am drowning in a sea of consumer options. I wouldn’t even know where to begin, were I to even shop with these icons of cancerous commerce. Most of these companies I have never even heard of, and I have no idea how they got my name.

 

There is no room for my bills. In the company of 6 catalogs the cover of my New Yorker was torn in the crushing effort to fit everything in the mailbox today. Is nothing sacred?

 

The production of these 20 billion catalogs a year (that’s 65 catalogs per US citizen) has the carbon impact of an additional 2 million cars on the road and 53 million trees. The financial return rate of all these catalogs is a measly 1.2%!

 

Until now the process of getting your name off of these mailing lists was arduous, convoluted and could take months. Enter, Catalog Choice, the people who feel our pain. Catalog Choice has created a web site where they have simplified the “do not mail” process. Just follow these steps, and you’ll create plenty of room for the holiday cards while simultaneously taking us all one step closer to solving climate change.

 

Step One: Go to the website: http://www.catalogchoice.org/#welcome

Step Two: Register

Step 3: Enter your address, the company catalog, and the catalog code listed in the address box.

 

Voila! Life is simplified, your mailbox is relieved, trees and water are saved and even your mail delivery person will likely thank you!

 

The Human Toll November 17, 2007

A few post ago I mentioned the ethical implications of climate change. First of all the expression “climate change,” is a misnomer in my opinion (as is “global warming”). To say the climate is changing makes it sound like we’ll have time to adapt, and gives one the sense that change is inevitable, and might be good in the long run. To say we have global warming lends itself to offering the false hope of respite from blizzards and the promise of longer growing seasons.

Not so. 

As the Gulf Stream warms up we can expect stronger, more frequent, and more destructive storms. If climate change was simply a matter of redistributing our agricultural landscape and moving inland, we have the technology to deal with it. We know that. What climate change means is more Hurricane Katrina’s. More droughts. More heat waves, mud slides, floods, ice storms – none of these are things we can control and adapt to. As I type, the headlines are posting the latest death toll from the cyclone in Bangladesh. In just the past six weeks there have been disaster category floods in Mexico Nicaragua, and the Congo. So far in 2007 there have been a hundred of natural disasters world wide.

You can view the list here:  http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/doc110?OpenForm 

Climate change is everyone’s problem, and buying more green consumer goods is not going to fix it. Our consumption has  exceeded any measure of sustainability, and the human cost includes the 15,000 people who died in the European heat waves, the 1,800 people that died in Hurricane Katrina, the 1,100 and counting in Bangladesh, the 50,000 left homeless from Sri Lanka floods.

   

The Right To Dry? November 16, 2007

I was dismayed to learn today that people throughout the United States are forbidden by law to dry their laundry on an outdoor clothes line. There is actually a political movement that specializes in assisting communities and individuals with breaking this law.

 

Here is a link to the advocacy site: 

http://www.laundrylist.org/advocacy/righttodry.htm 

 

We live in an era of environmental crisis, where scientists have gone on the record using words like, disaster, apocalyptic, and irreversible, and we need to seek legal counsel to save energy? I live in a state that runs rolling black-outs during high usage hours, and my government is actually supporting mandates that forbid energy conservation? I don’t know whether to laugh or throw a fit!   

Barney’s Goes Green November 15, 2007

Barney’s, proud of it’s cutting edge ability to know what is on their clientele’s mind each holiday shopping season decided today that “Green is the new Black.” The front window designer lamented the green theme mandate initially, but surprised himself with his own brilliance by coming up with “Rudolph the Recycled Reindeer,” mixed media collage. Made from recycled cans of course.  

People. Is this the best we can do? Really?

Responding to the trend of going green and the clientele’s desire to have a more “meaningful shopping experience,” Barney’s spokesperson said, “If this green movement is just a fad it will be a disaster.”

No doubt.

Here are some highlights from this years holiday catalog: Make sure everyone knows you are buying organic with this canvas bag. Classified under “Barney’s Obsessions category” it took me 3 clicks to find the price ($75).Here’s the product description:

“Lose the plastic! An exclusive collaboration between the NYC Mayor’s office and Barneys New York. Bring it to the grocery store, the farmer’s market, the bookstore, or the beach. You can feel good about this purchase! 20″ x 18″ x 7″. Made in U.S.A. Untreated, undyed cotton canvas. Barneys New York will donate $10 from the sale of each bag to the City of New York to plant trees in public parks.”

Seriously? Anyone who has $75 to spend on a freaking canvas bag so that $10 can go towards planting trees should be donating an entire arboretum to every town in the United States. I give them credit for the bag being made in the US, but where does the cotton come from? A collaboration between Barneys and the NYC Mayor’s office? Dude, if you live in New York City you should ask for a refund of your tax dollars.