Gone fishing...

I'm off to Mexico for a week. Into the jungle...no internet access. Check back in a week!

Public flogging

After weeks of enduring lunch-time conversa- tions (lectures?) about the merits of reusable bags and evils of plastic bottles, my coworkers have called my BS. For a while now, I've been resolving to bring tupperware with me to lunch so that I can avoid whatever nasty disposable container I'm given. I even bought some nice, new containers this weekend for exactly this purpose. Yet I continue to forget to bring them, and yesterday was faced with the choice of wasting half of my delicious ramen, or accepting styrofoam. I went with the styrofoam and my friendly coworker Paul offered to capture the moment for the purpose of my blog. Maybe now that my shame has been exposed publicly, I will remember the freakin' tupperware!

Coal mining in Appalachia

A couple days ago I was pleasantly surprised to hear from one of my long-lost cousins, who is all grown up and in college now. It's always great to reconnect with family members, but I was saddened by the news she had to report. Out in her neck of the woods, (Arkansas), she's involved in organizing efforts to stop coal mining via mountaintop removal in the Appalachian Mountains. I was totally ignorant about this situation, but my cousing Hannah clued me in. Here's what she has to say:

"The facts about the dangers of using coal for electricity to the degree that we do in the U.S. are becoming more and more well known. What is still hidden from the public eye are the horrendous effects that the coal mining industry is having on the residents of the Appalachian Mountain area which is where the industry is almost completely contained. Hundreds of families who can trace their lineage back for generations in the mountain valleys are being bought out of their homes every day to make room for more construction sights. Children sit in schools covered in dust from coal which is boosting asthma and other respiratory diseases tremendously. To mine the coal, the workers literally remove the peaks of the mountains which put a huge amount of wildlife out of their homes and then they put the thousands of pounds of hazardous residue from the filtered coal into pockets of land in the valleys that used to be homes and communities. The way the world can help is to buy energy efficient light bulbs instead of incandescent light bulbs. Another way to help is just to let your voice be heard: write to Senators and Representatives about how you feel about coal mining in the U.S."

It's definitely important for me to remember that there is always a local face to the problems we're facing on a global scale. Countless communities across the world are being polluted very locally by our unsustainable energy practices. To learn more about what's going on in Appalachia, check out the End Mountaintop Removal Action and Resource Center. And buy more compact fluorescent light bulbs. Speaking of CFLs, did you hear that Australia is banning incandescent bulbs and replacing them with CFLs? Read about it on Treehugger.

Breaking plastic bag news

Ikea has made an incredibly forward-thinking move and has become the first major US retailer to start charging for plastic bags!! (Yes, I busted out with the double exclamation points--sadly, I can't remember the last time I've been so excited!) They just announced that beginning March 15th, you'll have to cough up 5 cents per bag to get those bulk tea candles and bargain wine glasses from storefront to car in plastic. Well, YOU won't have to, because bringing your own bags is soooo old news, right? Since debuting this program in Britain just last year, plastic bag reduction has been 95%, and they estimate that the 70 million bags used by U.S. customers will be cut in half in the first year. If you forget your bags, you'll be able to take home their "big blue bag" for a reduced rate of 59 cents. What a deal! The great thing is, it's only a matter of time before other retailers begin to follow suit. Visiting Ikea is never quite a pleasant experience, but I'm actually looking forward to my next trip to check out the operation. Read more about the announcement and what they're going to do with proceeds from the program on Treehugger.

And from the mega-multinational to the locally owned... a shop owner in England declared February "Plastic Bag Free Month", and stopped giving out disposable bags to her customers.


Here is a really hip reusable bag designed by fashion designer Anya Hindmarch that is debuting at London's Fashion Week. Looks like it's still only available in the UK, but I'm sure it's only a matter of time before Leo, Cameron, et al are donning them. Anybody know a fashion designer? I've got some ideas of my own...

Speaking of making reusable bags stylish, another UK designer, Sarah Mower, complains that plastic bags should be banned, if nothing else, for their fashion violations. "To be perfectly shallow about it, on aesthetics alone, plastic carriers are unconscionable, and fashion ought to be pointing that out." This is a great read, on the Telegraph. Seriously, why bother fussing over finding the perfect outfit if you're going to ruin it with a gaggle of plastic bags as you shlepp around town? Answer: Keep the outfit, bag the plastic bag.

Hmmm....This sure is a lot of anti-plastic bag momentum for one week. I smell a revolution, how about you?

Where's the beef?

Don't let the anthropo- morphic cow picture scare you. I'm haven't forgotten my promise that I won't guilt you into going vegan. But I have been thinking a lot about meat lately. About this time last year, I visited the Texas ranch of a certain rock legend who’s better known these days for his advocacy of hunting and outspoken conservative politics. And although I probably disagree with him politically across the board, I did leave the experience convinced that he’s got one part of the equation right—that it’s a heck of a lot healthier, more humane, and more ecologically sustainable to hunt your own food than to buy it packaged at the supermarket. Unfortunately, most of us don’t own land with deer and other game roaming through it (btw, how can I get some of that?) and must rely on an agricultural system that is deeply flawed and unsustainable. There are many problems with the way our food is grown/raised that have huge implications not only for our personal health, but also for the planet. I will focus in coming weeks on the impact of eating locally (perhaps most important of all!) and organic. But in honor of Fat Tuesday and my own cultural heritage which starts observing the season of Lent tomorrow(traditionally marked by a meat-free Friday), I thought it appropriate to propose a meat-free day or meal per week. You don’t even have to be Episcopalian or Catholic to join the fun!

CUT OUT ONE SERVING OF MEAT A WEEK
Why? Here are just a few reasons.

* Over a third of all raw materials and fossil fuels consumed in this country are used in animal production. That means you get way more than your beef’s worth of global warming-causing greenhouse gases for your buck.

* Producing one hamburger patty uses the same amount of fuel as driving 20 miles does. Yikes!

* 40% of land in the U.S.—800 million acres—is used to graze livestock. This staggering percentage means that the habitat alteration, water and air pollution, greenhouse gases associated with animal production are on an enormous scale.

* 4.8 pounds of grain are required to produce one pound of beef. Is this an efficient use of energy and resources?

* 2 billion tons of wet manure are generated every year. This is ten times the amount of solid waste generation in our country (which is already an enormous amount!) and has catastrophic implications on our water safety. According to the EPA, animal wastes pollute American water supplies more than all other industrial sources combined! Where do you think e. coli outbreaks originate, folks?

* Poultry is less polluting than red meat, but still contributes its fair share. Poultry waste comprises 34% of animal waste, while red meat claims 45%. Pigs account for 12%, leaving the remaining 9% to turkeys, goats, and other livestock.

* A pound of beef requires around 2500 gallons of water to produce, compared to 60 gallons for a pound of potatoes. According to John Robbins in his seminal book, "The Food Revolution", you’d save more water passing on one pound of beef than not showering for a whole year! And you'll likely keep more friends along the way, too.

Reducing my own beef consumption is definitely a challenge. After almost 5 years of vegetarianism, I started (literally) dreaming about hamburgers about 3 years ago and have since enjoyed my fair share of them. I don't even really like other kinds of lower-impact meat--beef is where it's at for me. But with all the above figures weighing on my mind, I'm going to cut out at least a serving of meat every week. So enjoy your Fat Tuesday, and tomorrow, go Catholic!

photo by pikaluk

Things learned after 2 hours in the Apple store

After a close call with a hard-drive breakdown, and an evening spent at the "Genius Bar", I'm feeling the Mac love at the moment and am going to ramble a bit off-topic. The fact that they provide free, in-store technical support to rescue my failing hard drive is truly refreshing in this world of dwindling, lackluster customer service. They're not worried about the few who might take advantage (there are some folks who do show up every day-mostly for social interaction, I learned), but hey, no big deal. And, most importantly, did you guys know that you can send your computer off to Mac for a week and they'll fix basically everything for a flat rate of $300? This is astonishing! The "genius" who was assisting me assured me that they melt down the used parts to reuse in some way. He also clued me in to a little secret: If you're getting a new ipod, bring your old one back to the store for recycling and they'll give you 10% of the new one! Apparently, they realized how ridiculously wasteful it is to encourage people to constantly upgrade to the newest model and throw away the old one. I have no idea if they advertise this program, so spread the word...

Important: TP update!

You know, it's been way too long since we talked about a super-riveting topic, like, say, toilet paper. Well, I have breaking news, folks! How I missed this, I do not know (guess I've had my head up my arse--har har). As one commenter from the original TP post pointed out, Trader Joes' toilet paper is 100% recycled! And 80% post-consumer product, for that matter. The best part is that a 12-pack costs $3.49, compared to that approximate price for a 4-pack at Whole Foods and other favorite over-priced natural food stores. My sincere apologies for leading you astray and making you cough up the big bucks for over-priced arse-wipe. I know I looked at it in the store and thought it was only partially recycled. Or did they recently increase their recycled content? Either way, it's a relief to know that we can count on TJ's for non-forest-killing, bum-wiping tissue.