Going Local - How and Why?

Happy Earth Day! The media is full of information today on Earth Day celebrations, but I thought I would go with a more general topic today since its really our day-to-day actions that make a difference.

We hear a lot about the importance of buying local, but what's the fuss really all about? I have to credit the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver for really making me think about this one. Her family spent one year only eating what they could grow, raise, or purchase in their local area (less than 50 miles). All I had to do was take one glance at all those stickers on my fruits and veggies to know that most of my food (particularly in the winter) comes from more than 50 miles away.

Buying local has never really been something I prioritized on a year-round basis. Sure, it's great if all other things are equal, but what about cost and convenience? It's easy to go to the store and load up on produce from the four corners of the Earth, while ignoring the environmental cost of shipping all that food.

Here are a few things of the reasons that I've been starting to prioritize local foods (or other goods, for that matter):
* Local foods have been picked more recently which means more nutrients.
* The freshness of local foods mean they taste better!
* Buying locally doesn't have to be harder once you get started. There are farmer's markets, delivery services, roadside stands, and community sponsored agriculture (CSAs). Check out Local Harvest to see what's in your area.
* Local foods support local farmers which adds a rich diversity to your community and supports your local economy. If you don't want an area filled with big-box stores, you need to support the alternatives.
* Buying locally is closely tied with buying seasonally. You simply can't expect to buy local asparagus all year-round. I did find a nice calendar for food grown in the Northwest by season. In season in April: asparagus, beets, carrots, kale, lettuce, parsnips, radishes, rhubarb, rutabaga, spinach, and turnips.
* Of course, the best (and cheapest) way to reduce the miles your food travels to get to your table is to grow it in your own backyard.

In a recent discussion with my husband, he claimed to be a very good local buyer. He proudly pointed out that all his favorite beverages are local - his never-to-be-without Coke Zero is bottled 20 miles from our house and his favorite beer (Red Hook) is microbrewed even closer. I do buy organic milk and apple juice from local sources as well, so apparently we've cornered the market on local beverages. I guess we all have to start somewhere!

Now, I'm off to go try to figure out to do with the local beets I bought yesterday. I love them in restaurant salads, but have never tried cooking them myself. I'm not Barbara Kingsolver, but I am taking baby steps...

Greener School Lunches

180 school days times two children = 360 packed lunches in my household. That's a lot of lunches! While my greatest challenge remains finding healthy food that my children will actually eat, another struggle is how to avoid all that plastic baggie waste. For me, I try to keep the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra in mind with their lunches.

My solution was helped by the fact that from an early age, my kids refused to eat sandwiches. Why, I never could figure out, since they will eat bread, meat, and cheese separately, but that's another story. My default answer became a thermos full of last night's leftovers. This way they get to reuse the leftover food and we get to reduce the overall waste factor, by not using a plastic sandwich bag. The thermoses have contained everything from chicken and veggies to soup to spaghetti.

For all the other items (fruits, veggies, crackers, etc.), I use reusable plastic snack containers. Truthfully, these are the same ones I've been using since they were babies with their first snack of Cheerios, but they do the trick. They also each take a reusable water bottles and plastic silverware. I used to send them with cloth napkins, but those came back unused everyday, so I gave up. Who was I kidding? Little boys don't use napkins of any kind!

I'm happy that we skip the plastic baggie route most days, but we still have room for improvement. One of my kids gets a small can of apple juice each day, while the other buys a carton of milk. While these items can be recycled, I don't think that's currently happening. The school did just send out a notice on reducing its carbon footprint, so I'm going to make a note to follow-up on their in-class recycling options. They also each usually get a small yogurt (hiding under the carrots in the picture). I tried converting to home-packed containers of yogurt that come from the larger tubs from the store. It would be cheaper and there would be less waste, but I haven't sold the kids on that idea yet - their favorite flavor/brand doesn't come in the big containers. Ah well...

There are many options for going green with school lunches including reusable sandwich wraps, but I have yet to try these. I think it's all about what works for each family and our plan seems to be working for now. Anyone else have other tips or tricks?

Earth-Friendly Fiction for Kids

There are many great non-fiction "green" books out for kids, but I think a compelling story can be a great way to learn something new as well. Here are a few of my picks for Earth-friendly children's books. Feel free to share your favorites in the Comments section below.

The Lorax by Dr. Seuss
When my seven-year-old came home from school a month ago with a seed planted in a cup, I asked him what kind of plant it would be. He told me it was a truffula tree. Hmmm... I thought, I've never heard of that tree. It wasn't until we sat down to read this book that I realized Dr. Seuss had inspired the name. See the picture for how well his truffula tree (actually, a pinto bean) has done!

The Lorax has to be one of the first children's books to talk about conservation. In typical, whimsical fashion, Dr. Seuss rhymes his way through the story of the beautiful Truffula Trees discovered one day by the Once-ler. They are so beautiful, he can't resist chopping just one down to knit a very special Thneed. Of course, one Thneed leads to another and before long, the forest has been converted to a giant manufacturing plant. The Lorax pops down from the sky along the way to point out the danger of the Once-Ler's ways, but his warnings fall on deaf ears. But all hope is not lost - this is Dr. Seuss! What if there happened to be one seed left? What if that seed was given to a child?

Just Grace Goes Green by Charise Mericle Harper
The fourth book in a series, this story puts the reader in the shoes of a 3rd grader named Just Grace (to distinguish her from the other 3 Graces in her class). Her teacher has just announced that her class is "going green" and each of them will have to come up with their own project. Grace taps into her creativity (and mild superhero powers) to make a difference in the end. This book is full of humor and great illustrations - done by Just Grace, of course!

Hoot, Flush, and Scat All by Carl Hiaasen
Carl Hiaasen is one of my current favorite middle-grade (ages 8-12) authors. Each of these three books features a child from Florida trying to save some part of the environment. Whether its a special habitat for owls or clean ocean water and beaches, the children always have to face up to nasty grown-ups and greedy corporations. Full of interesting characters, challenging predicatments, and humorous situations, these books entertain just as much as they teach.

2030: A Day in the Life of Tomorrow's Kids by Amy Zuckerman and James Daly
What might life be like for kids twenty years in the future? This book offers a fun, illustrated look at a futuristic world. Can you imagine clothes with built-in solar panels that generate enough energy to run your electronic gadgets? Can you really just beam your health information from your watch to your doctor? Will schools and other buildings be built out of giant size Lego blocks that can be moved around when the needs change? The book gives some interesting ideas and sends your mind on a journey of all the possibilities.

EPA Takes a Stand

The Environmental Protection Agency took a stand today on greenhouse gases. According to their news release, "the Environmental Protection Agency issued a proposed finding Friday that greenhouse gases contribute to air pollution that may endanger public health or welfare."

They specifically studied six gases - carbon dioxide, methane, nitrous oxide, hydrofluorocarbons, perfluorocarbons and sulfur hexafluoride - and found that they are all at unprecendeted levels as a result of humans.

I personally was happy to see methane on their list since that is the basis of my children's novel Earth Rescue. Set fifty years in the future, it follows a twelve-year-old boy named Jax struggling to find his place in a world where it is no longer safe or legal to go outside. In his world, climate change led to the melting of the Arctic icecap which uncovered ancient plant material that had been buried under the ice for millions of years. These plants released so much methane gas that the air and water became too toxic to breathe or drink.

As with other government regulations (including declarations of endangered species), this finding now goes through a six-month public comment period before any actions will be proposed or taken. At least it's a step!

Eight Days Until Earth Day

This year Earth Day is on Wednesday, April 22nd. Although I already knew the basics about the day, I recently learned about its history.

Earth Day...
* started in 1970 (my birth year too!)
* led to the creation of the Environmental Protection Agency
* paved the way for the Clean Air, Clean Water, and Endangered Species Acts
* was founded by Wisconsin Senator Gaylord Nelson
* had 20 million demonstrators across America in its first year

Earth Day can be a chance to connect with your community, reflect on our planet, or just to make a few simple changes. The Earth Day Network can help you find a local event if you are interested in making a difference in your neighborhood.

For me, I think I'll spend my day starting my garden in hopes of raising some of my own vegetables this year, rather than importing them from thousands of miles away. Good thing my town has a farmer's market too just in case my dreams of edible vegetables from my first garden are too grandiose!

E-Recycling

How do you know when it is time to upgrade your computer? In my case, it was when my son complained that our old version of Powerpoint didn't support the cool audio features in the book report presentation he had created at school. Okay, I agreed, we needed the latest and greatest software. Little did I know that it would bring our computer to its knees. Sure, it could run the new software - if you didn't mind waiting a few minutes every time you clicked on an icon waiting for the computer to rise from its coma. So, out with the old, in with the new, but what to do about the old hardware?

The good news is that the computer industry, the desire to recycle, and government regulations have all come a long way in the past few years to make this process easier. My home state of Washington launched a new e-cycling program this year that provides many locations that accept a variety of components including printers, computers, mice, cables, and keyboards. I took everything in the picture below (I discovered a few extra monitors in the garage) and the only charge was for the keyboard which was $1. The e-cycler will now break everything down to its components - plastic, metal, etc. and sends it out to for recycling.



For nationwide e-cycling referrals, check out the EPA website. For advice on cleaning your personal data off the computer before recycling, check out Do the PC Thing.

Plastic Bags = Cute Purses?

The plastic bag conundrum is still hovering over Seattle. Should they be banned? Should consumers have to pay for them? Should it be put to a vote?

Many of us try to avoid them altogether, but I still seem to generate a massive amount of plastic bags - from the newspaper, the bagels, the phone book I just received... (Do people still use phone books?!?)
And, of course, there are all those pesky grocery store bags. My talented friend Marelu crochets hers into fun purses. They are so cute, she's even getting requests from her granddaughters for their own! The picture shows what she's made out of her QFC, Fred Meyer, and Safeway bags. Here's a link if you're interested in trying it. Not a bad way to reuse all those bags hanging out in your pantry! For me, I think I'll just keep returning the ones I can't avoid to my grocery store. If you need to find somewhere to recycle plastic bags (or anything else) in your area, try Earth 911.

I've also recently seen an example of this type of reused plastic bag from another country. The SEE turtles conservation project had examples of these same purses that had been hand-made by the women of Changuinola, Panama. The benefits were two-fold: the women were able to generate an income, while the sea turtles were saved from the plastic bags that can ensnare them in the ocean. Stephen had fun just checking out how big sea turtles really are with the life-size example they had on display!