Green Options

Think back to the last direct-marketed product you saw on television. You probably remember the hyped-up pitch person, the “special offer” for buying now, the price that ends .95.  You may also remember thinking “Why would anyone want that?”

Yes… most of the products marketed on television border on useless crap.  They’re symbols of conspicuous consumption.  The sales pitch feels cheesy. And, yet, as I mentioned in Five Greenish Products You’ve Seen on TV, a small handful of them appeal to values we promote here at sustainablog: conservation, re-use, and efficiency.

I’ve come across a few more that strike me not only as appealing to these values (and perhaps a few others that are positive), but also as a great way to spread sustainable practices… even if they’re not necessarily labeled that way.  Again, I don’t know the lifecycles of these products.  I assume most of them are made in China. I wouldn’t call any of them “green,” or endorse them outright (or try to sell them through affiliate links here).  But they’re definitely “greenish”… and if direct marketers are selling products by appealing to some of the values mentioned above, that’s an ever-so-small step forward. Here we go…

Ten credible on line calculators gave Carbon Footprints that ranged from 27 000 to 76 000 pounds of carbon emitted a year for the same input data. An understanding of the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with what we do and consume will give us a better chance of reducing our emissions than using such inaccurate calculators. 

What’s the problem?

J. Paul Padgett and collegues at Vanderbilt University and the University of Washington analysed the results obtained using 10 carbon footprint calculators from credible organisations including; American Forests, Bonneville Environmental Foundation (BEF), CarbonCounter,The Conservation Fund and the Environmental Impact Agency (EPA). Their results are published in the Environmental Impact Assessment Review 28 (2008). They identified the massive range refered to above, that ammounts to a difference of  180% between the lowest and highest figures and concluded that “Given their prevalence and potential influence, CO2 calculators can provide even greater public benefit by providing greater consistency and clarity.

Here are a few known healing properties of common foods you may be tempted to enjoy at fall festivities:

Cranberries: As you may already know, cranberries are body purifiers, low in calories, have no fat and are a nice source of Vitamin C. This health blog states:

“some of the health benefits of eating cranberries:

* prevent bacteria in the bladder, kidneys and prostate
* supports optimum urinary tract health
* may prevent kidney stones
* have both antiviral and antibacterial properties

Here are some fun facts about cranberries:

* More than 85% of the weight of cranberries is water!
* Native Americans used a brewed a cranberry mixture to draw poison from arrow wounds..”

Tomatoes: Pureed, cooked, stewed, in sauce, stored as a sundried treat or marinade, lycophene rich tomatoes are super healing for the body.

After reading Robin’s post last week on easy weeknight meals, I was craving that comfort food classic, tomato soup and grilled cheese.  I’ve been eating it in various incantations since I was tiny, and I wanted a refined, yet simple version of soup.  I looked through several cookbooks for a filling soup that only required ingredients I had on hand, and when I saw Deborah Madison’s Summer Tomato Soup, I knew I would try something similar.  I literally made and enjoyed this dish today and wanted to pass it along.

Got tomatoes? Looking for a simple, delicious way to use those?  Because we planted somewhat late, we’re at the peak of our tomato harvest, and last night I made my first pasta sauce from scratch from slow-roasted plum tomatoes fresh from the garden. Slow-roasting concentrates the sweet flavor of the tomatoes, transforming them into an entirely different entity.  Find out how, after the jump…

Whole Foods, following in the footsteps of Taco Bell, Burger King, and McDonalds, agreed this week to become the first grocery chain to improve working conditions and pay for the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW), tomato workers from Florida.  Whole Foods will pay an extra penny per pound of tomatoes, and will work in conjunction with the CIW to establish modern working standards for its agricultural workers.

If you were one of my Facebook friends, you would be able to see that right now “Robin is channeling Carl Spackler. Where’s the dynomite!”

You remember Carl Spackler, don’t you? The Bill Murray character from Caddyshack. The guy whose only goal in life was to get the gopher. No matter what he tried, he couldn’t. Because he knew. He knew that “a varmit will never quite - ever. They’re like the Viet Cong - Varmint Cong.”

Okay, let’s back up. Late last year, I read Barbara Kingsolver’s Animal, Vegetable, Miracle. Up until then, I had been focusing a lot on energy conservation and recycling. But Kingsolver’s book opened my eyes to the importance that food plays in sustainability. I got excited and couldn’t wait for the spring so I could plant an organic garden.

In April, my kindergartener and I planted seeds in yogurt cups and nurtured them while they grew on the window sill. In May, my husband (with a broken arm) tilled a plot in the back yard. My family loaded up garbage cans full of compost from a local department of public works and dumped it into the garden. I bought organic plant food from the farmer’s market. We planted four kinds of tomatoes, carrots, peppers, eggplant, green beans, and a variety of herbs. Then we waited, lovingly weeding and watering and watching.

Then came the varmints. First they got the carrots. I didn’t freak. I knew carrots were a risk with all the rabbits we have in the backyard. Then they got my cilantro. Next went the green beans and every single flower on the eggplants. I tried various natural critter control. None of it worked. I even planted marigolds that are supposed to repel the bunnies. The bunnies ate them. They invited their friends the squirrels and chipmunks to the party, too.

Farmers Market Fare is back this week for the seriously hot days of summer. Despite the heat, I’ve been out and about doing farm tours. Last weekend was Tomato Fest, with a celebration of heirloom tomatoes, chef demonstrations, barbecue, music. If you have a chance to get out to a farm tour event like this, it’s well worth it. Plus, you can see the farm where your food is grown for yourself. Try that at the grocery store.

Here’s a lovely Panzanella salad that I had to try and recreate after tasting it at the Tomato Fest, along with some recipe submissions from our favorite regular contributors. Both of which have corn on their minds this week!

Recipes and links after the jump.

This is a simple and flexible recipe for all seasons - even if you don’t have local fresh organic tomatoes. When tomatoes are in full season, it is fun to mix it up and try different varieties. I like mixing in a few sweet cherry tomatoes.  In the off-season, I use Muir Glen organic canned tomatoes and often blend in some locally made roasted tomatoes for added flavor.
This is a healthy warm-weather staple in our household. We just can’t wait for our tomato plants to catch up. I make a batch and keep it in the fridge almost every week.

The raw food movement began with a fringe group of eaters in the mid 1970s and has since gained mainstream status along with other alternative diets such as veganism and macrobiotic eating. Most major cities and many smaller ones now boast raw food restaurants. Raw cookbooks abound and celebrities like Carol Alt, Woodie Harrelson and Natalie Portman have gone public with their raw food habits.

A cornerstone of raw foodism dictates that uncooked food is more nutritionally intact and bioavailable to humans. Raw foodists point out that all natural foods have the enzymes necessary to break down their matter, but that these enzymes are destroyed by cooking temperatures. Such followers believe that by eating only foods that contain their own decompositional enzymes, the body does not have to produce its own digestive enzymes (from the pancreas) and can redirect the energy elsewhere. Raw foodists also believe that an uncooked meal is more nutritious than cooked counterparts because of some evidence that cooking leaches nutrients.

But new evidence published in the upcoming issue of the British Journal of Nutrition suggests that vegetables do not always provide optimal nutrition when consumed raw. Instead, several vegetables are more nutritious after cooking or when served with other ingredients, such as fats.