Tuesday, December 25, 2007

Merry Christmas to all....and to all a good hot dog!

*Cue Donny Hathaway* This Chrismas, instead of a traditional turkey or ham or vegetable lasagna for the lone vegetarian, my family grilled out. We called it a July dinner for Christmas, you know, like Chrismas in July but reversed. And yeah, I'm one of the corny ones who made it up, partly because I wanted my family to pay attention to the warm(er) weather for Ohio this year and partly because I was assigned to cook and I kind've got to weasel out of it because all I eat is turkey products and no one else does.

But really, what other year (here in Ohio where I'm from anyway) has it been 50 degrees and/or up, not snowing or sleeting and warm enough to stand outside to wait for food to cook. I mean, I grew up in Ohio and I'm used to the cold. I acutally miss the cold. I sleep better when it's cold. And while my father still doesn't believe that global warming is real, there we were grilling out. It was sunny too. The food was divine. BTW, is grilling a green thing to do? Probably not...hmmmm..... I'll have to check the science of it and get back or if you are out there reading and you know, leave a comment and enlighten me. I'm always looking to be better.

Grilling out this Christmas gave me some hope, too, that old habits maybe don't die hard, even for the folks. We still were chomping on mac and cheese and greens like always, but we're working on extending our culinary choices and options. Especially to the good organics. But anyway, the day is coming to an end and I think, although I procrastinated too long to get the green goods/reusable bags/reusable aluminum water bottles before Christmas (I got yall for Kwanzaa though), I think I raised, and continue to raise, the issue enough to show the fam that I take gifts seriously, especially the gift of the earth (more importantly the God that gave it to us).

Yeah, call me corny or whatever, I already told y'all I was.
Merry CHRISTmas everyone!

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Just a few things...

Hey folks. I'm working hard today, so I just wanted to share a few items of interest with you.

Hey, holler at me if you find anything cool!

Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Paper or Plastic?

I choose paper when I can/when I'm not walking a mile to the train or bus. What about you?

Each year, Americans use more than 100 billion plastic shopping bags, consuming an estimated 12 million barrels of oil. After a very short working life, these bags retire to landfills where they take 500 or more years to break down, or become litter that clogs storm drains and threatens marine wildlife. City governments that have passed or are considering plastic bag bans include Steamboat Springs, Colorado, Portland, Oregon, California cities San Francisco, Oakland and Santa Monica, Boston, and both Annapolis and Baltimore in Maryland. Consumers in these cities must use paper or bring their own bags.

I pulled this from an interesting article on E, The Environmental Magazine's website. Read it!

Monday, December 17, 2007

Organic...or not?

You know, I love my mama and deddy. They raised me to look out for things. I don't always know if they're serious or joking, but they talk an awful lot about how in everything there is a conspiracy against black people. So when I started mentioning the benefits of eating organic and the unknown dangers of genetically modified food, they were like, "Awww c'mon, they do anything they want and slap that green sticker on that so you'll pay more for it."

I read this article today and it really made me think about what I'm buying when I think I'm buying organic food. It gave some validity to what they were saying when the organic food boom hit and I was all over it. I'm sorry I jumped on the bandwagon, but I learned a bit about genetically modified food while in college and I must say that I am more afraid of what's in the food we eat than I am of ... just about anything else. (FYI, if you are not hip, google genetically modified food, but don't read anything by monsanto -- they make the stuff, so they wont say anything bad -- and read up.)

From my understanding --correct me if I'm wrong imaginary audience-- in the last century scientists have been making and farmers have been using genetically modified seeds that are resistant to certain organisms, insects, temperatures and any other natural distractions that could wipe out crops/their $. Some are even genetically modified to sit on the shelf in the warehouse or grocery store longer. This wouldn't be so bad if it didn't disturb the natural order of things, or if we knew exactly what these foods did to our bodies but we are the test subjects and the lab rats. There's a whole lot of money behind the politics of GMFs so we can't even get labels to us what we're eating like the European Union has. We can only hope that the food the USDA says is organic doesn't have these GMFs inside. Again, think about the ingredients of the foods we eat. That high fructose corn syrup is most likely derived from a corn stalk that in not 100% real/natural. It probably has been genetically modified.

Let's not even mention toxic sewage sludge fertilizer. Yes, I do mean $%^! all over your vegetables.

So what do ya do? Well, as soon as I can afford me a house with a backyard, or even a windowsill and a pot, I plan to grow my own food. This industry is disgusting. I went to see I am Legend this weekend and I am convinced that we're destined for some kind of scary strain of something that will be resistant to everything and wipe us all out....just wait.

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Let's Start Slow...

You know, I get really upset when I see people litter. It just doesn't make sense not to put trash in the trash can. It's lazy. I can say that I've never done it intentionally. I've worked hard to prevent people around me from doing it. I think it's absolutely disgusting. I used to live in Harlem, on the east side. In the early days it was a pleasure to walk from the train stop at 125th and Lennox to 125th and Lexington. I used to marvel at all the vendors and busy people. I used to count how many shoe stores and salons versus how many bookstores there were (soapbox). I bought some funky scents and some nice shirts for fam from the Underground spot. I loved every tourist-y minute of it. Then a few months rolled by of me living there and I started noticing something else.

The trash.

You know, most people who talk about being *bendy quote fingers* green talk about reducing the amount of trash we produce. They talk about reducing plastic bag use. Why, you ask? They talk about sustainable neighborhoods and renewable energy. Me, I want to talk about all that stuff, but I'm going to start slow and talk about putting trash in its place, people. It bothers me a whole lot to know that the trash we 'throw away' is actually being buried beneath us. But to live in it ... ? Maybe you're leaving it there, lady I saw this morning, as a reminder to everyone else that if we don't reduce the amount of trash we use, that's exactly where it will be, swirling swimming around with us.

Maybe not.

How much extra energy from you does it take to put your wrappers or napkins or bottles or cans or whatever you've got, into the can?

Wednesday, December 12, 2007

Trying to understand the 100 Mile Diet

Last night I was talking to my mother about how I really wanted to read the book Animal, Vegetable, Miracle because it talks about a family's quest to live only off of what they can eat locally.

I think this is amazing for several reasons 1) because having been a victim of some still unnamed digestive disease, I am very concerned about what's in the food I eat and how it affects my health. 2) If you grow your own food or if you can have a conversation with the person that's growing your food you'll know that the seed is not genetically modified to prevent grasshopper loitering or something. 3) Sure, like mom says, there won't be strawberries to eat in Ohio in the winter (maybe some strawberry jam, though) but it forces one to be creative and crafty with what is available and 4) It would save the world from all the gas that it takes to drive/fly those strawberries to Cali or wherever they're being grown to me.

Think about it. What did you eat for breakfast or lunch today. Out of all the things you ate, can you name all the ingredients and better yet, do you know what they are? I know I can't. I had a cookie out of the vending maching and all I know is that it had no trans-fat and it tasted good. Probably had some flour... dark chocoalte... sugar I'm sure, but the point is that I don't know. We don't know. All this sickness and disease plaguging our race has some kind of connection to what we're eating, and what we're exposed to, but we can control one of those things. We can choose to make better choices for us and the environment.

The option has always been there for me, in my hometown in Ohio, to eat local. I can even tell you the name of the popular year-round farmer market. The challenge is to try.

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

No black people left behind.

There's a lot going on in the *bendy quote fingers* green world this week and there's a lot that I'd like to share, but please beware that I am not consistent, so if you are tuning in to this blog everyday (like me, hoping that something would manifest itself) but have been disappointed, don't completely knock it off your morning list of blogs to read. Just because I am not consistent, I am not a quitter. Enough about me, (not really) though, in just a week of being dedicated to delivering and commenting about green news, I have found a number of great blogs, magazines and articles online that we can take full advantage of.

Before I get to that, I'd like rant about black people being left behind.
NOTE: Please don't be mad at me for throwing us all into one category because it's wrong but everyone does it for the sake of conversation. The other week I was watching 'Kid Nation' (yes, I'm a TV Junkie) and the youngest kid there won a gold star worth $20,000. The first thing he said, or it may have been the last thing he said is that he wanted to save it because the price of gold was going up. There are so many things wrong/right here. Sure, 8-year-olds should know about the price of gold, yes, but when I was 8, I was thinking about Barbie and how many people were/were not coming to my birthday party. (Shoutouts to Wendy, my life-size doll and the only one there...lol) Seriously, do you know any black kids, how bout we say, black or latino kids that know anything about stocks/bonds or the price of gold? If so I want to meet her/him. How many black kids do you know that have a bank account? (Shoutouts to mom, becaus I did) Everytime I watch that show I think about how mature, well-spoken and serious these 8-14 year-olds are. It's not something that's hard to believe (kids can be smart), just something that's hard to swallow because I think about myself at that age and kids I worked with in a recent afterschool program. We're not on their level and it's scary. It may not necessary be a race thing, it could very well be a class thing and a school-funding thing, but that's another blog for another day.

My point is that while I could be blogging about race issues, womens issues, music, books, art, fashion, children or crime or lots of other things that are important to me and keep my mind racing, I choose to discuss *bendy quote fingers* green stuff and how to conserve energy and renewable sources and these other things because I don't want to be left behind and I don't want others to be left behind. I can see my auntees and cousins now talking about wind turbines in their back/front yards because the gov't put them there and they don't know why. Let's learn, let's be on top of these things because the truth is that a lot of this information can save us money, time, health, well-being and etc. if we pay attention.

So back to the biz, while looking up stuff last week to help me on this quest, I found Envirowoman, who is trying to live without buying, using or keeping anything plastic because of its harmful effects on nature. Check it out. Think about how much plastic you use. What would you do without it?

I also found a Canadian woman who does something green everyday. She's turned her thermostat down, despite the chill of the North; she doesn't have a refrigerator; she's chosen greener household cleaners and green taxis; she's ditched processed food, plastic grocery bags, tape, shaving her legs; and these are just the recent changes. She's witty about it too, and that helps. I'm still stuck on the refrigerator thing...

This site is like the ultimate source for green/sustainable planet/recyclable goods news. It is where I was inspired to begin this blog and where I get a lot of information. Although I don't like to call myself this...

That's all for today, folks. Just a start. I hope you are inspired (lol) Stay tuned for more and remember what I said. I am learning here, too. Please feel free to leave comments and suggestions.

Monday, December 3, 2007

I mean there's a lot of things to concern yourself with these days...

...Especially if you are black in America. And s0metimes I have that whole "what different does it make" attitude about the earth and fighting for any cause. But something keeps me going. Something inside me knows that when I die, this earth is going to my daughters' grandaughters' daughter and she's going to curse me for the mess that I left.

To me, starting this blog and learning all that I can about sustainablility, recycling, green goods, renewable energy and the things I have yet to know is the same reason I fight against misogyny and racism and bigotry and ignorance and other ugly behaviors. It's just going to get worse and worse if we don't stop it.

So this blog is not for you. It's a learning experience and a project for me. I don't plan to only write about green stuff, but I would like to report on it and learn as much as I can. So here goes.