Excerpt from Book | The Green Foodprint

Use 100% Recycled Paper Towels

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Posted on May 6, 2010
Author: Linda,
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Earth-friendly paper towels with more recycled content are available. If every household in America replaced one roll of 180-sheet two-ply virgin fiber paper towels with 100% recycled one, we would save 864,000 trees, 3.4 million cubic feet of landfill (3,900 full garbage trucks) and 354 million gallons of water (a year’s supply for 10,100 families of four).

-From “The Earth-Friendly Food Chain” pg. 92

Another solution is to invest in products such as “People Towels” where you bring your own paper towels to public places instead of wasting them every time you go to the restroom.

Did You Know this about your Grocery Stores?

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Posted on March 30, 2010
Author: Linda,
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Safeway, with 1,775 stores in the US and Canada plus almost 500 subsidiary stores, has created a house organic label for over 300 products, from fresh lettuce to spaghetti sauces. Safeway has won an award from California’s Integrated Waste Management Board for its success in recycling and composting. But be aware that some junk food is labeled “organic.” Potato chips made from organic potatoes are still condensed doses of salt and fat.

Whole foods make low-interest loans in 12 states to small businesses that produce food crops, body care products, and artisan foods such as nut butters, ice cream, granolas and cheese. It is recognized by the EPA as a Green Power Partner of the Year.

Trader Joe’s, My Organic Market, and Andronico’s are some regional chains that sell Earth-Friendly foods to a large and appreciative customer base.

From The Earth-Friendly Food Chain (p. 62)

Patagonia Lives Up to its Ideals

In Excerpt from Book, Recommended Company,

Posted on March 22, 2010
Author: Linda,
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Patagonia, manufacturer of outdoor clothing and gear, donates 1% of all sales to environmental groups, $31 million so far. Patagonia uses only organic cotton–significant because cotton is one of the most pesticide intensive products sold. It also uses wind and solar power, adopts green building practices, heats its plants by recirculating hot water, and uses motion detectors to reduce light use. Patagonia works to reduce its manufacturing footprint and makes its supply path transparent on its website. It founded The Conservation Alliance in 1989 to encourage other outdoor companies to support environmental organizations. No wonder that www.betterworldshopper.org voted Patagonia the #2 Best Company on the Planet!

-From The Earth-Friendly Food Chain (p 72)

Paper or Plastic? Choose Neither!!!

In Excerpt from Book, Take Action,

Posted on March 21, 2010
Author: Linda,
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Instead of getting paper or plastic bags at the supermarkets, bring reusable bags! Andy Keller was laid off from his software job and decided after visisting his local dump, where he saw plastic bags everywhere, that he would start his own company called ChicoBag. He makes light nylong grocery bags that can be neatly folded up into their own attached pouch, so it’s easy to keep one. Here are some useful facts on Paper and Plastic bags which will hopefully remind you to bring your reusable bag the next time you go to your local grocery store: (this info is also found in my book: The Earth-Friendly Food Chain)

Paper:

17 trees to make 1 ton of paper bags
20% get recycled
Ingredients: Wood, Petroleum, coal
Could biodegrade in a month: in landfills actually decomposes at about the same rate as plastic
Each bag causes 5.75 lbs of air pollution
Generates 5 times as much solid waste as plastic
Uses more fuel getting trucked to the store. Produces 50 times more water pollution than plastic.

Plastic:

11 barrels of crude oil to make 1 ton of bags
1% get recycled
Ingredients: natural gas, petroleum
Decomposes in 5-1000 years
Each bag causes 1.2 lbs of air pollution
40% less energy to manufacture than paper. 91% less energy to recycle
3% of the world’s plastic bags ends up as free-floating litter. Easily washes out to sea, where it clogs the stomachs of whales and turtles.

Source: The Alliance for Climate Protection

Google Guarding the Rainforests?! Boon or Bane?

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Posted on March 17, 2010
Author: Linda,
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Recently posted in Discover Magazine, Google.org is working on launching a program using satellites to help scientists monitor deforestation. Read the article here. This article fits perfectly under the category of our book, “The Earth-Friendly Food Chain“‘s Technology –Boon or Bane? What do you think are the pros and cons to this program?

As “The Earth-Friendly Food Chain” states, “We’re skeptical of “solutions” that came out of the same mistake as the problems: the beliefs that humas should outwit nature and are entitled to have everything we desire” (Riebel 10).

Nature bats last–and owns the stadium.

-Amory Lovins, L. Hunter Lovins, and Paul Hawken

Authors of Natural Capitalism

Knowledge is Power — and Health

In Excerpt from Book, Useful tools,

Posted on February 24, 2010
Author: Linda,
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Ever wonder what pesticides were used to produce the apples, grains, and vegetables you eat? Now you can find out. Go to What’s On My Food (http://whatsonmyfood.org) and type in the kind of food you’re thinking of eating. You’ll get information on what kind of chemicals are typically used for such crops. After looking up some of your favorites, we think you might look on organic food with even more respect than you already do.

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