Green Options

I just returned from an editorial meeting for a local magazine for which I write. The topic of “Holiday Gift Guide” came up and…how the economy will impact many people’s ideas on what to buy for the holidays…or not buy.

In the process of discussing this “consuming” issue, we mom writers started talking about some of the favorite ways we plan to save money this year. One idea that really struck me was how much waste we produce by giving each other…and you know we moms are guilty, not very useful gifts.

“When three people discover a harmony they never knew existed,
then they know there is hope for the world.”

Pete Seeger

Wow. We could use a healthy dose of Pete Seeger right about now. After watching the wonderful documentary about him, Pete Seeger: The Power of Song, for the 4th or 5th time, I still felt a powerful mix of emotions - inspired, empowered and lazy primarily.  I cry every single time I watch it. Mostly because I see how one simple, steadfast man could keep his vision of hope clear and unadulterated by his own ego and the threat of the imposing world and in the end, his simple messages, songs and way of being is one of the most powerful examples of being true to yourself, your inner ideals and the song we all inherently carry.

Watching an 84 year old Pete Seeger on stage singing with passion alongside Arlo Guthrie and his son-in-law or standing in the cold protesting the war, or making maple syrup at his home in the woods of NY state, or singing with a classroom of children, or cleaning up the river . . . All of it beautiful. All of it incredibly inspiring. All of it makes me feel like I should get busy - after all I’m already nearly halfway to his age. I’ve got a lot of catching up to do!

A Nobel Prize for Pete . . .

A Government Accountability Office report explains that one facility can produce up to 1.6 million tons of manure each year, which causes 1.5 times more pollution to water and air than a city like Philadelphia.

As I review more and more ‘green’ products these days, I’m kind of baffled that there isn’t more of a standardized rating system. I googled ‘green product standards’ and I found the Green Seal of course, which is great for paper products and cleaners.  The EPA even has a database for information on environmental products and services - if you go there and you can figure out what the standards are and actually find product lists, please let me know! It’s a little confusing.

What about standards for all this great stuff we find here on FeelGoodStyle.com? What about clothing manufacturing, which by the way is traditionally a pretty harsh industry on the environment? What about other textile products, great green designed kitchen gadgets, and what about all those awesome accessories - green bags/purses, belts, jewelry, shoes!?!

I found one promising standard system . . .
BuyGreen.com seems to have a rating system that works. It is a flexible system and offers an opportunity to become more educated about certain types of products and their inherent characteristics in terms of their basic product life cycle. It also seems to lend itself well across a very diverse range of products from clothing, to toys and yes, accessories! They even offer office products.

One of the smallest rooms in your house is also the easiest to green.  But for many people, their bathroom is a sanctuary, a place they go to relax in a hot bath or shower.  You might not want a spartan existence for this place.  That doesn’t mean you can’t go green.  You can make your bathroom eco-friendly without sacrificing luxury by knowing a few tricks and where to shop.  Find out how, after the jump…

Over the past year, I have changed the way my family eats. I do a lot more cooking of whole foods and a lot less opening of boxes from the freezer. My time spent in the kitchen has increased dramatically. There have been many times that I’ve thought “making this would be so much easier if I just had the right gadget.” But I’ve refrained. Often the item I’d like to have is what Alton Brown of Good Eats calls a unitasker - a kitchen gadget that is only good for one purpose.

Why shouldn’t you go out and buy a unitasker? I’ve got a few good reasons.

1. You most likely already have something in your kitchen that will do the job. I recently returned a panini maker still in a box to a friend who was lending it to me because it had been sitting unused in her cupboard. I had the idea that I would be making loads of tomato, mozzarella, and basil paninis this summer. When I finally got around to making one, it occurred to me that I could make it in my grill pan and use my cast iron skillet as a weight to press it down.

Milestone Move by the Nuclear Regulatory Commission

It’s taken two decades and billions of dollars, but the proposed Yucca Mountain Nuclear Repository project has finally reached a new plateau.  The Nuclear Regulatory Commission, (NRC) has accepted an application for licensing, and will begin a lengthy process of safety studies, hearings and public meetings.

The application was filed June 3rd by the Department of Energy (DOE), and was accepted as “sufficiently complete” for the agency to move forward with the process which could take up to four years.

This is a guest post by Puspa Sharma, MA Candidate in Global Finance, Trade and Economic Integration at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies, University of Denver.

Exponential increases in food prices in recent times have created enormous challenges to governments, national and international organizations, and aid agencies everywhere in the world. The World Bank has estimated that the rising food prices could push an additional 100 million people into poverty, thereby undermining the current efforts geared towards poverty reduction.

Increasing demand, decreasing supply, and the rising oil prices, which are in turn affected by numerous other factors, have been some reasons for the rise in food prices. Demand for cereal grains has been rising not only as a result of population growth, but also because of the growing middle class population in countries like China and India. Growing incomes have resulted in more demand for cereal grains directly and also more meat and dairy, which in turn has raised the demand for more grains as feed for the livestock. Another more important reason for the rise in demand for food crops is the development of bio-fuels, which have attracted a great deal of attention in recent times.

On the supply front, according to a publication by the International Center for Trade and Sustainable Development (ICTSD), droughts in Australia and Turkey and bad weather in Ukraine and parts of North America have resulted in less agricultural production which has caused food prices to rise. A more important, but often overlooked reason for the decrease in the supply of farm commodities against rising demand is that the subsidies that the developed countries have been providing to their agriculture sector have dampened world prices of those products and made the products of developing countries uncompetitive. This has had a tremendous impact in agricultural production in developing countries. In the absence of competitiveness and any other gains to be derived from agriculture, the developing countries have had less incentive to invest in agricultural infrastructure, agricultural research and development, and the like. As a result, agriculture production in these countries continually declined disrupting supply.

Then, who should take the blame of rising food prices? If we look at the demand side, we see that the demand has been rising in one part because of rising incomes in few developing countries, and on the other, because of the development of bio-fuels by the developed countries. On the supply side, drought and bad weather conditions are not something which are under human control, but less supply resulting from less production in developing countries owing to the agricultural policies of the developed countries definitely deserves attention.

Guest contributor Pamela Price is the founder of Red, White & Grew, a blog devoted to “Promoting the Victory Garden Revival and other simple, earth-friendly endeavors as bipartisan, patriotic acts in an age of uncertainty.”

If you’re a full-fledged foodie, then you’re well aware of this weekend’s Slow Food Nation ‘08. Sandwiched as it is between the nation’s political conventions, the first-ever SFN promises to be a palate-cleanser for those of us who regard good food and sustainable agriculture as bipartisan paths to unity. According to the official web site, SFN conventioneers will be invited to Celebrate, Learn and Act this weekend to create a “deeper connection to our food.”

Not surprisingly, and as Kelli Best-Oliver reported here earlier, many SFN events are already sold out. And the major networks won’t be providing round-the-clock coverage for the San Francisco-based convergence (drat!).  But don’t feel left out of the party! There are several ways you can stay connected both with the convention goings-on and general spirit.

Actually, the best time to cancel unwanted catalogs was probably about two months ago before the first waves of attack came, but now is the time to stop future attacks. What attacks am I talking about? The dreaded onslaught of holiday catalogs. The first should arrive right after Labor Day if they haven’t started coming already. Catalog companies will continue to send several copies of the same catalog (trying to trick consumers with a different cover) until a few days before Christmas.

Then there will be, perhaps, a two week lull. After that will come the post-holiday sale catalogs. Because nobody gets everything they want for the holidays, catalog companies are kind enough to slash prices so that you can buy yourself what you really wanted. How do I know all this?

I’m a former catalog junkie.

That was before my month long campaign to rid my house of catalogs, and unfortunately, it was before Catalog Choice.

When my daughter started preschool last year, my life as a craft collector began. From rock monsters to paper plate people, our family grew by the day. While I always welcomed the creative creatures and inventions into our home, I was disappointed that many of them were adorned with things that had likely been purchased at dollar stores (i.e. pipe cleaners, popsicle sticks, googly eyes), which in addition to being wasteful also made most of them choking hazards for my younger son (80% of the kids had baby brothers or sisters at home).

I was excited to learn about  The Imagination Factory, a website dedicated to helping children turn solid waste into art.  Marilyn Brackney, founder of The Imagination Factory, is an artist and educator  out of Columbus, Indiana who has been reusing materials for art projects for many years. In 1996, she launched her website where she helps visitors learn how to use trash for activities such as drawing, collage, and sculpting. The site also offers educational information for kids, such as  how to be a paper saver. Brackney believes that it is often the children who inspire the adults to be more environmentally conscious.