This week, I began the Living Green Workshop, a six-week class developed and taught by a non-profit based in Santa Monica, CA called Sustainable Works. Though I write for Green Options and am active in the green community here, I figured I would still learn something. Boy howdy, did I!
The first class: water. An astounding 70% of Southern California’s water is transported in from other areas, mostly Northern California. Even more
[...]
Editor’s note: Worried about mercury in the fish you’re eating? This week, email tips provider Vital Juice Daily has advice for how to avoid the mercury while still enjoying your seafood.
These days, there’s something fishy about fish—and we’re not talking about the smell!
The deluge of information about mercury contamination (affects the brain and nervous system) has us concerned. We know it’s a wonderful source of protein, good fats, vitamins and minerals—so
[...]
How far away do you live from the nearest grocery store? More than likely, you pass one on the way to school, two on the way to work and maybe even three on the way to the gym. If this scenario is something you can relate to even slightly, you do not live in a food desert.
According to The Low Income Project Team, food deserts are "areas of relative exclusion
[...]
Chicago residents who want to get serious about eating local and organic food have a number of ways to get their hands on produce with low "food miles" that is grown in an earth-friendly way. In addition to the scores of different farmers’ markets to be found in different neighborhoods throughout the city, dozens of CSA options are available from organic farms in Illinois, Wisconsin, Michigan and Indiana. But what happens after
[...]
This local blog first came to my attention via an article in the local paper about a University of Michigan medical student and his daughter who are operating a blog together that is encouraging people to eat vegetarian meals one day a week (on Wednesdays). The Vegetarian Wednesday blog began just this past summer. Originally founded by Josh Mugele and his daughter Eleanor, there are now a few other writers
[...]
Quick question: What are you having for dinner tonight? No plan? You’re not alone. About one third of Americans don’t know what we’re having for dinner tonight. While a dash of serendipity and spontaneity may be good for the soul, when it comes to eating, having a plan helps both the planet and pocketbook.
No meal plan results in – you guessed it – our falling into the
[...]
In the vegan cooking classes I teach and the outreach I do, I am often asked how to incorporate "organic" food into our diets without breaking the bank. Since I rarely have a simple answer, I usually start off by saying what I think is a really important thing to keep
Keep in mind that the typical consumer is NOT paying the true cost of food. The meat, dairy, and egg industries, in
[...]
Time management gurus advocate going after "low hanging fruit" first: identifying and going after your most obvious opportunities. This same "go after the low stuff" theory also applies to edible activism: "Eat low, use more."
Basically this means eating as much as possible lower on the food chain, using a core staple of whole grains, beans and generally less processed food. Grains and beans pack a nutritional wallop — a single serving of
[...]
A local friend of mine recently tried out the Consumer Consequences game from American Public Media. (Shirley Siluk Gregory offered a review of the game here last week, as well.) It is essentially another version of a set of questions that help model the now familiar question, "How many Earths would we need so that everyone could live the way you do?" My friend was a bit shocked to
[...]
I’ll admit it, I was one of those little kids who patrolled gutters during rainstorms to save drowning worms. All these years later, I have a new appreciation for them. Honestly, what’s not to love about critters that reduce global warming, help you garden, and will eat most things that you toss their way? As pets, they may not be much to look at, and they’re decidedly bad at playing fetch. But compare them
[...]
Over the past few years fair trade products have expanded into many new markets. With this trend we inevitably have to reevaluate the micro and macro systems involved in producing and providing fair trade products.
There is a rather large difference between fair trade products and fair trade companies, says Mary Morison, executive director of the Fair Trade Resource Network. Large corporations that sell or promote individual
[...]
Subscribe to our RSS feed or newsletter
