Great Earth Day article!

http://www.newsweek.com/id/236722

Questions/Topics

Most of what has appeared so far has been self-driven subject matter. Dave recently asked where it would be appropriate to post questions. So comment to this thread if you have questions or topics you would like to see discussed. I realize this might be Pandora's box, but in the interest of sparking discussion, I'm open to the possibilities.

Dining out

So I was talking to some great friends last night and the topic of dining out "green" came up. Since we were in a restaurant, and curious, we decided to find out whether or not the "to-go" containers of said restaurant were earth-friendly. (In previous posts I've mentioned how we are trying to avoid using plastic bags at the grocery, so this seemed like a continuation of that idea.) We were pleasantly surprised. Not only did they use brown paper bags, instead of plastic, for their to-go food, but they also used containers made out of recyclable materials! If the restaurants you go to don't have a similar program, find a comment card or a manager and politely let them know that it is something you look for when picking a restaurant. It never hurts to plant a seed in their minds that their clientèle are choosing more and more based on earth-friendly policies.

Seventh Generation article

Check it out: http://www.seventhgeneration.com/learn/blog/natural-markets-still-lead-way

Grocery Bags

One of the recent changes we made, that was long overdue, was to buy those reusable shopping bags for our trips to the grocery. I know, I know...not an overly revolutionary idea on our part. But simple changes in habit lead to larger changes in behavior. I've taken encouragement from thinking about how many of those plastic bags we used per trip. On a given grocery venture, of which we typically make 2 or 3 per week for our family of 3, I would estimate we would use at least 6 plastic bags. So perhaps 18 bags per week, which amounts to an astounding 936 plastic bags over the course of a year that we throw away!!! Apart from any statistics about how long these bags take to bio-degrade, how much waste goes into producing these bags, or how much carbon is needed to produce them, it is a remarkable testament to our family's ability to waste something without thinking about it. So, in conclusion, pay the $1.99 per bag to make a difference in your own consumption. It's easy, affordable and responsible. As an added bonus, I've found them extremely functional. They have flattened bottoms so they stand up when you put them down, long straps so you can throw them over your shoulder (which is helpful when you also have to tote a diaper bag and a child), and insulated so they keep your cold food cold. I only bought two of them so I may have to make an extra trip to the store per week, but that's small price to pay for progress. An inch at a time.

Flow trailer

This movie is listed in my Endorsement section and is available on dvd right now. It's an educational and slightly terrifying watch.

The Story of Stuff

I highly recommend spending some time watching this video on consumption. It raises some fantastic points, especially on production waste. Enjoy.

Book and Film List

Books:

In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan

Film:

Flow

Food, Inc.

Product Endorsement

This will be the start of an ongoing list of environmentally safe products that we are trying out. I will add our comments on the products as we get familiar with them:

1. Honest Tea- Certified Organic. Incredible bottled tea available at Whole Foods and sometimes Kroger's organic section. I highly recommend the Acai Mango White Tea. They also make juice for kids (HonestKids) that are low in sugar with no artificial sweetners. Priced similarly to other bottled drinks like gatorade and vitamin water.

2. ECOS Free and Clear laundry detergent- So far so good. Hypo-allergenic and no dyes or perfumes. Cheaper than almost any other name brand detergent, so it's a great find!

3. Seventh Generation disinfecting wipes- More expensive than other wipes. Cool aspect of these wipes is that the primary ingredient is Thymol, which is derived from thyme. So your gets to smell like fresh thyme after cleaning! So far most Seventh Generation stuff tends to be pretty expensive, but really high quality.

Initiation

Dear readers (if there are any),

I and my family, consisting of gorgeous wife and adorable son, have recently undertaken several steps to modify our lifestyle to one more in line with the notion of preserving and not polluting the earth. First, though, some caveats:

1. I've never liked the term "green". I think it is far too commercialized and has served as an opportunity for manufacturers with little interest in the environmental impact of their production to play on the emotions of those more concerned. I use it for this blog simply as a means of attracting readers.

2. Most of my information and motivation does not come from primary sources. I am a suburbanite dad who believes that many of the things my family does on a daily basis could be done with a more organic mindset. To this point I have been substantially influenced by several poignant documentaries and a couple incredible books. Unfortunately, I don't know any farmers and have very little perspective of people in the third world. I have traveled to impoverished areas in South America but it was some time ago and never with the intent of investigating the environmental impact of global industrialization on those peoples.

3. I realize this is not a unique concept. However, if there are others like us out there, who have been similarly affected by the growing genre of environmental transformation media out there, perhaps it will serve as a guide for individuals with questions on the process of becoming more earth friendly.

4. Lastly, I believe that when the chips are down, most if not all people choose to do whatever is in their own best interest in spite of all else. In other words, everyone is in favor of saving the environment until they see how much local grown, grass fed beef costs (more than prime beef in most cases). I know, this sounds incredibly pessimistic. However, I don't mean it that way. As Bruce Bueno de Mesquita would say, it's merely a notion that helps you predict human behavior (even your own). With this in mind, I fully realize that cost is a strong deterrent to many families who would like to do something like this. So is "extra" work. Most of the solutions I will pursue will keep these factors in mind as they are important to my family as well.

So it will be my intention to endorse and try out different products and methods that aim to improve our family's health and the health of the environment. When/If I have any readers, I would love to see an open forum on the ideas discussed here. Since I like watching documentaries and reading books, they will probably also feature in this space.

So here we go...