While I try to approach eco-living with a smile and a giggle — and encourage my readers to do the same — the latest research from climate scientists is anything but amusing. I hate to be the messenger of bad news…but read this (click on link below) before you head to the voting booths. Strong leadership by someone who recognizes that the environment is THE most important issue on the agenda (and, of course, affects healthcare, the economy, poverty, etc. etc.) is critical.
http://www.organicconsumers.org/articles/article_14872.cfm

I recently appeared on an episode of BNN’s MoneyTalk.

You can watch the segment here.

When the UN released stats in 2006 that indicated meat-eating shared a larger share of the blame for global greenhouse gas emissions than all forms of transport combined, there was undoubtedly a cheer from the Hummer-driving vegetarians in the world (hmmm — wonder if there actually are any). Now the UN has gone even further by actively encouraging us to eat less meat. UN Climate Chief Rajenda Pachauri has asked people to go meatless one day a week – for starters. It’s surprisingly easy…and tasty. Not to mention a good idea to give your old heart (and colon) a bit of a break. Just remember, though that eating tofurkey doesn’t give you licence to take a joyride in your Escalade…

Okay, so I packed on a few pounds over the winter! Now comes the annual springtime ritual of ridding myself of it. My brilliant scheme to only eat half of every meal and toss the rest is defeated when I learn that close to one-fifth of landfill is wasted food. And even though I compost most of our food waste, the stat nonetheless sobers me up enough to recognize that wasting food is not the answer. So…I think I’ll simply start eating off my kids’ dishes. Instead of heaping helpings of my own hospitality, I’ll have a respectable morsel or two. It’s a fine line I walk between satisfying my hunger and indulging my love of food.
To find out more about our food waste, visit http://www.wastedfood.com/

“It’s much more important to change your leaders than your light bulb.”
-Tom Friedman, author of “Hot, Flat and Crowded”

I often feel sheepish — as author of a book, column and Web site dubbed The Virtuous Consumer — that I’m promoting consumption. In truth, I simply recognize that sometimes the path to a better, healthier, more just world takes us through the mall. However, a recent article in the San Francisco Chronicle newspaper by former Sierra Club U.S. president Adam Werbach, puts it better than I ever have:
“While this movement will have many faces, it will use a platform that is a daily practice for most of us - shopping. While political activism is at best a biannual pursuit, shopping is a regular activity for most people on the planet, and if trends continue, for virtually everyone… I’m not calling for you to get off the farm and into the mall. Engaging people as consumers, as people who shop, allows us the possibility of building a billion-person movement. People don’t need to join a listserv or pay a membership fee to join. They won’t get a newsletter or a membership card that they need to stuff into their wallet. And no wall calendars. But how do we bring our aspirations for the world into what we buy? This is the billion-person question.
Every product you buy should be a gateway to a personal sustainability practice. The first step is developing your own personal practices. The second step is asking the stores where you shop to start carrying products that support your practice. And the third step is sharing your practice with you friends. It all starts with you.”
To read the entire article, visit: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/09/EDJ7102JMK.DTL

Rachel Carson’s groundbreaking book, Silent Spring, exposed the dangers of pesticides on many bird species. Fortunately, the banning of many of these pesticides along with legislated protection of these species allowed birds, such as the peregrine falcon and bald eagle, to recover. But Latin America, eager to grow those fruits we crave in the dead in the winter, still use many of these banned pesticides. And now, ornithologists are blaming that for a serious decline in songbirds. According to an article that ran in The Independent (UK), “Ornithologists say another silent spring is dawning across the US as birds are being poisoned by toxic chemicals or killed as pests in their winter refuges across South and Central America as well as the Caribbean. They say that many species of songbird will never recover, and others may even become endangered or extinct if controls are not put in place or consumer habits changed.”
To read more, click here: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/american-songbirds-are-being-wiped-out-by-banned-pesticides-804547.html
Clearly our love of out-of-season produce is just plum-loco!

Sure they save energy — lots of it. And kudos to you for changing all your incandescents to compact fluorescents. But…there is that pesky little problem with mercury. While CFLs contain a teensy amount — about enough to cover the tip of the pen — it’s enough to contaminate anywhere from 1,000 to 6,000 gallons of water (depending of whether you’re using low-mercury versions or not). So a broken CFL isn’t as simple as sweeping the pieces up and tossing.
So what can you do? Fortunately, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency offers up some advice. Please don’t use this as an excuse to stick with those incandescents which, incidentally, are a better source of heat than light. Just install and remove CFLs carefully — and dispose of them responsibly (IKEA takes them back, for example) and you’ll never have to use the following:
fore cleanup: Vent the room
1. Open a window and leave the room for 15 minutes or more.
2. Shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system, if you have one.

Cleanup steps for hard surfaces
3. Carefully scoop up glass fragments and powder using stiff paper or cardboard and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
4. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
5. Wipe the area clean with damp paper towels or disposable wet wipes and place them in the glass jar or plastic bag.
6. Do not use a vacuum or broom to clean up the broken bulb on hard surfaces.

Cleanup steps for carpeting or rug
3. Carefully pick up glass fragments and place them in a glass jar with metal lid (such as a canning jar) or in a sealed plastic bag.
4. Use sticky tape, such as duct tape, to pick up any remaining small glass fragments and powder.
5. If vacuuming is needed after all visible materials are removed, vacuum the area where the bulb was broken.
6. Remove the vacuum bag (or empty and wipe the canister), and put the bag or vacuum debris in a sealed plastic bag.

Disposal of cleanup materials
7. Immediately place all cleanup materials outside the building in a trash container or outdoor protected area for the next normal trash.
8. Wash your hands after disposing of the jars or plastic bags containing cleanup materials.
9. Check with your local or state government about disposal requirements in your specific area. Some states prohibit such trash disposal and require that broken and unbroken lamps be taken to a recycling center.

Future cleaning of carpeting or rug
10. For at least the next few times you vacuum, shut off the central forced-air heating/air conditioning system and open a window prior to vacuuming.
11. Keep the central heating/air conditioning system shut off and the window open for at least 15 minutes after vacuuming is completed. (Source: U.S. EPA)

As promised in my most recent Virtuous Consumer column, here’s my tried-and-true recipe for delicious and nutritious whole-wheat chocolate-chip cookies:
1 cup organic butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup white sugar (organic, if possible)
2 organic eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
2 cups whole-wheat organic flour
1 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
2 cups (or more!) fair-trade organic chocolate chips (Whole Foods sells them, as does El Camino brand)
Mix together butter and sugars. Add eggs and vanilla. Mix in flour, baking soda and baking powder. (You can add organic rolled oats - my kids tend to balk at it and it makes a doughier cookie.) Add in dry ingredients. Then mix in chips. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 - 10 minutes.
Enjoy!!

While I’ve had my share of…uncomfortable…subway rides in which I could never be sure if I was being groped intentionally or accidentally (did the offender lack control? Or just coordination?), the idea of segregated subway cars never crossed my mind. Poking out the offender’s eyes with my umbrella did cross my mind…however I digress. The feminist, indeed the civil libertarian in me, never saw the value in segregation of any kind. Until now. As one rider of Mexico’s buses so subtly put it: “A woman could enter a metro car a virgin and come out pregnant.” Apparently the rush-hour cars are a gropers’ paradise, leading many women to avoid public transportation. While I’m not sure these fed-up women would rely on less eco-friendly alternatives, such as driving Hummer H2s or anything like that, I maintain that this is an issue that affects Mother Earth, if only because these accidentally pregnant subway riders are burdening the planet with more hungry mouths. Which is why I’m delighted with the notion of women-only buses on 15 of Mexico’s City’s busiest routes.
Women are reportedly pleased by the plan and look forward to a jeer-free, gropeless trip from A to B. Read more here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2008/01/24/international/i122219S49.DTL