Something Shiny! » Green

Get me out of here

emily — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 14:30:16 +0000

I. Just. Don’t. Belong.

Courtesy of the Gainesville Sun

Crunchy granola

emily — Tue, 27 Apr 2010 02:38:35 +0000

Here’s something I bet you didn’t know about me (well, okay, some of you knew this, but most of you didn’t): I make our own cereal. The cereal we eat for breakfast most days of the week, I make every two weeks or so. We made the decision a couple years ago to stop eating processed foods and, more importantly, to know more about what’s in the food we eat (read In Defense of Food, yo, and never look at your grocery store the same way again). What we learned was more than a little alarming. The crap that gets put into the food we Americans eat (is it the same elsewhere? I honestly don’t know) is horrifying. And no, I’m not talking about fingers and whatnot, a la The Jungle, but it’s still scary. And to what end? To support the corn industry? Because it’s cheaper? Because the FDA can’t say no to Big Soy? (I’m making that up; I don’t know if there’s a Big Soy.) Whatever the reason is that there’s HFCS, for example, in just about everything, I refuse to believe that it’s because it’s good for us. The ingredients in most commercial processed foods was enough to push us to make a change. And we started with cereal. I like knowing what, exactly, is in the food we eat. I like knowing that we’re in greater control of what goes into our bodies. And I like providing for our family, as banal as that sounds. Anyway! I didn’t mean to turn this into a soapbox discussion; I was just blogging about what I’m doing right now. So! ::clears throat:: What are you doing?

Made to break

emily — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 13:45:01 +0000

Last week we had a repairman come out to the house to check out our dishwasher. We’ve had it three years this April and recently, it started making noises that suggested it was in dire need of medical assistance. Or at least a large martini. For $80, the repairman clucked and shook his head as he disassembled the dishwasher and promptly told us that the motor was on its way to the motor graveyard. Could we have it fixed? He laughed; sure, he could fix it. For about $275. But that wouldn’t do us much good, he explained, since the computer board would be the next to go. And when you consider that we spent $500 on the dishwasher in the first place… well, that just doesn’t make good economic sense. So, we’re well on our way to buying a new dishwasher to replace the one that was brand-new not even three years ago. Does this strike anyone else as completely effed up? My grandmother has had the same toaster since at least the 1960s. It works just like the day she bought it, which is to say perfectly. In the time we’ve been enjoying toast in this household, we’ve replaced our toaster no fewer than four times. And sure, it’s easy to chuckle and say, “well, they don’t make ‘em like they used to!” But why is that? Why are things made so cheaply these days? And, more importantly, is there anything we can do about it?

NaBloPoMo: Our Thanksgiving Tom

emily — Sun, 29 Nov 2009 01:24:57 +0000

For many years now, we’ve eschewed the traditional Butterball turkey in favor of a more natural Thanksgiving. Usually this has meant ordering an organic turkey from afar and picking it up locally. This year, though, we acted early. At the beginning of the summer, I contacted a local farm and put my name on the list for a local, organic, free-range, non-scary turkey. They emailed last weekend and told me the turkey would be available to pick up on Wednesday. I’ll confess, I was a little worried: picking up a turkey the day before Thanksgiving usually spells disaster because the turkey won’t have had time to defrost properly. But we’d gotten this far and we were determined to see it through. If all else failed, we reasoned, we could always cook something else. As it turned out, we needn’t have worried. We drove down to the farm on Wednesday in a rainstorm of biblical proportions. Lee Windham, of Four Arrows Ranch, welcomed us into her house and pulled a fresh (not frozen) turkey out of her fridge. It had been slaughtered and cleaned just a couple days prior. She apologized for the weight; heritage turkeys tend to be a bit smaller than the broad-breasted freaks turkeys that Americans have come to expect. But people, that was the best turkey I’ve ever tasted. Flavorful, plump and juicy, we didn’t care that he was a little smaller than his mass-produced brethren. He was just perfect. And for that, we were truly thankful.

NaBloPoMo: Crazy Al

emily — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 01:08:08 +0000

If you haven’t already seen Al Gore’s recent SNL appearance, it’s really worth a look:

“Farm News”

emily — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:37:04 +0000

It’s been awhile since I’ve enthralled you all with a green-living-related rant, so I thought I’d indulge you. Here goes! We didn’t get a chance to get to our normal local egg place the weekend before last, and had to settle for grocery store eggs. We knew we didn’t need that many, so we just got a half dozen in a little package marked “The Country Hen.” Cough, cough. Open the carton and you’ll find “Farm News” from the Country Hen. How quaint! This small chicken farmer in Massachusetts has included a little newsletter for me to read! Perhaps we can exchange Christmas cards! Being of a suspicious nature, though, I couldn’t help myself. I looked up the address for “The Country Hen” in Hubbardston, Massachusetts on Google Maps and clicked on the satellite image. Small country farm? No, no. It is to laugh. Here’s what I found:

It’s a CAFO! And it’s happy to see you! Based on the scale at the bottom of the map, you can figure that each of those enormous, ah, chicken houses is about 400 feet long. Go to the (cough) farm’s website, and you’ll see that they say that the chickens live in “sunlit spacious barns,” eat “certified organic feed,” allowing them to produce “simply healthy and delicious eggs!” It’s a chicken wonderland! It’s Club Med: Poultry Edition! They get massages and pedicures and see personal trainers three times a week! Dig a little deeper, though, and you’ll find this about their organic feed: “We do not reveal the source [of the organic feed] as it is one of our trade secrets.” Really? Trade secret? Because I was under the impression that chickens eat things like grass, bugs, and plants. You know, things found in “nature,” not something that’s a “trade secret.” The Country Hen they may be, but a small country farm they’re not. It’s greenwashing like this that makes it really tough to buy food with a conscience. Buyer beware, and don’t believe everything you read!

We can do this!

emily — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 15:14:22 +0000

I got an email from Al Gore this morning. Me and Al, we’re tight like that. He pointed out that in order to make a difference with regard to climate change, we can’t just change light bulbs, we need to change laws. That’s actually what he said: “we can’t just change light bulbs– we need to change laws.” Al’s good with words like that. Anyway, he told me that Congress is debating clean energy legislation and he asked me to sign a petition supporting that legislation. I thought it was a great idea. Al’s good with the big ideas. Anyway, in case you don’t have a direct line to Al like I do*, you can sign the petition online! Where it says “who asked you to sign”, just give Al my email address: eamcasey@yahoo.com. Now go forth and help the planet! It’s good for your skin and it helps cure depression, too!**

*No, I don’t really have a direct line to Al (sob!). But he keeps in touch with me and lots of other Americans through RepowerAmerica.

**While studies haven’t directly shown a link between climate change and skin or depression, I’m sure it’s just because those studies haven’t been done yet.

For me to poop on*

emily — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 20:18:58 +0000

Is there anything we do on a regular basis that’s good for the environment (where “we” = the average citizen)? I ask because increasingly it seems that the answer is, well, no. From the imported bananas that we eat to the bottled water that we drink to even the toilet paper with which we wipe. Yes, you read that correctly. I read an article recently that talked about the ultra-soft toilet paper that Americans are so fond of, and how that gets made. Rather than painstakingly relating the article to you, I’ll just get to the main point: We’re wiping our butts with virgin and old-growth forests from Canada, the United States, and South America. Why? Because we like super soft toilet paper. And trees found in those types of forests yield the extra-long fibers that make super soft toilet paper possible. I, for one, had no idea. We’re a devout Charmin household, I confess, and I had no clue that the type of toilet paper we use (and facial tissue, for that matter) was so terrible for the environment. I’ll be taking a hard look at these rankings, to see if I can get any of these eco-friendlier brands here in Gainesville.

*Bonus points if you get the reference.

“In moderation”

emily — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 14:18:22 +0000

Have you seen those Corn Refiners Association commercials about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS)? Here’s one, and here’s another. What’s hysterical about these commercials is the line that “in moderation,” HFCS is just fine. In moderation. Hmm. An interesting phrase, really, considering that HFCS is in damn near everything we eat and drink in this country. It’s not just in the obvious things like soda, fruit drinks, and pancake syrup. Do you like canned soup? It’s in there. Spaghetti sauce? Yup. Bread? Uh huh. Cereal? For sure. Ketchup? Yessir. Even cottage cheese, crackers, salad dressing, yogurt, pickles, sandwich meats, and so much more. You have to go well out of your way to avoid it, in fact. So, how exactly is one supposed to consume HFCS “in moderation”? I agree with the commercials’ statement that we need to “get the facts” about HFCS. I just don’t think that the Corn Refiners Association is the place to find said facts.

If you’re interested…

emily — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 16:09:31 +0000

I’ve got five days of carbon neutrality to give away to five lucky people, courtesy of Brighter Planet! The Vermont-based startup will offset a single day’s worth of carbon emissions in your name. It’s free for you and good for the planet! All you have to do is click here: