Blog

Another brave move by New York Mayor – food composting

In Excerpt from Book, In the News,
Tags: Community, environment, RECYCLE, The Green Foodprint

Posted on June 16, 2013
Author: Linda,
Comments: Comments Off on Another brave move by New York Mayor – food composting

Today, the New York Times reported that outgoing mayor Michael Bloomberg will follow up on his February comment deploring food waste by establishing a program to allow (and some day require) households to recycle it through city-collected bins.

This is good news to everyone who knows that food waste is one of our most unnecessary losses. San Francisco, of course, required food recycling starting in 2009. The East Bay city of Lafayette has been collecting food waste for years.

As I wrote in The Green Foodprint, “There is no waste in nature. Every plant, animal, rock, and drop of water is broken down and reused. Fallen trees, leaves, the shells left by a nut-eating squirrel, and the fur or feathers left by a predator are recycled in the ecosystem, decaying and becoming soil in which new plants and animals can live and grow.” Yet 30% of food produced, worth billions of dollars, is wasted every year.

The mayor’s administration, we are told, is about to hire a composting plant to receive and process 100,000 tons of food scraps a year. According to reporter Mireya Navarro, that’s still only one tenth of the waste generated by city’s residents, but that this measure could save $100 million a year. Not to mention the topsoil or energy that can be generated by skillfully recycling it.

Some day we’ll look back and be amazed at what people used to throw away.

Monsanto – evil, or just obscenely successful?

In Food Politics, GMO's, Toxins and Pesticides,
Tags: GMO

Posted on June 13, 2013
Author: Linda,
Comments: Comments Off on Monsanto – evil, or just obscenely successful?

Recently, 2 million people in 436 cities in 52 countries (according to organizers) marched in public protests to show their opposition to the global seed and pesticide corporation Monsanto and everything it stands for. That would include: its development of GMO (genetically modified organisms) food crops, its intimidation of farmers who won’t go along, its history as developer or producer of things like DDT, agent orange, bovine growth hormone, aspartame, nuclear weapons, PCBs, its participation in the “revolving door” in Washington, where industry leaders become regulators or elected officials are given cushy industry jobs after they leave office. Not surprisingly, Monsanto is hugely profitable. According to its 2012 annual report, in the most recent year its net sales amounted to over $13 billion, with a B, 14% more than the previous year..

With the profits goes power. Industry has defeated almost every effort to require labeling of GMO foods (including last year’s Proposition 37 in California). The times may be changing. Connecticut this week actually passed a law requiring GMO labeling, though it’s a conditional one.

Some people don’t agree that there’s a problem. A heated debate recently occurred in the website Motley Fool, which is a commercial financial advice site. The original article, aptly titled “Why is Monsanto the Most Hated Company in the World?”, questioned the validity of claims on both sides, but concluded by saying,

“It seems that GMOs will inevitably become a larger part of our food supply, because the corporate motivator in the United States has proved to be stronger than the citizen motivator in recent years. A few protests won’t change that. It will take concerted, long-running national efforts to change diets and attitudes before Monsanto and its peers are forced to loosen their grip on American farmlands.”

The comments are as revealing as the article – check them out.

We need a new generation of farmers (and here’s where they’ll come from)

In Recommended Company, Take Action,

Posted on May 30, 2013
Author: Linda,
Comments: Comments Off on We need a new generation of farmers (and here’s where they’ll come from)

Here’s a wonderfully succinct and proactive slogan: AMERICA NEEDS A MILLION NEW FARMERS. VETERANS WANT THE JOB.

This is the appeal of a website that supports a new documentary called Ground Operations: Battlefields to Farmfields.

As you know, the average age of farmers in America is 57 – and we’re going to need more of them in future years as the current generation retires. And who better to fill their shoes than the returning veterans who are looking for work?

As the website says, “The mission of Ground Operations is to strengthen the growing network of combat veterans transitioning into new careers in sustainable farming and ranching. Let’s help them get started and build their resources, so that they can create healthy new lives for themselves and food security for communities across America.”

I’m old enough to remember the Viet Nam war, the protests, the loss of lives, and the strains endured by returning veterans of my generation. Thankfully, we’ve learned our lesson and offer ceremonies of welcome and other support for this generation of young people who were sent overseas to fight in our name. BUT our economy leaves them in the lurch.

Farming – the perfect solution. Swords into plowshares!

Currently scheduled screenings of Ground Operations can be found here. Trailers are available on the website. You can also make a donation via the crowdsourcing site IndieGoGo.

This is the first financial appeal I’ve made from The Green Foodprint in the years I’ve been blogging. I’ve donated. Please consider adding your dollars to this cause.

Trans fats have not totally disappeared

In Food to Avoid, Take Action,

Posted on May 26, 2013
Author: Linda,
Comments: Comments Off on Trans fats have not totally disappeared

You may recall that some years ago trans fatty acids (TFAs) were declared a health danger. TFAs are produced by partially hydrogenating vegetable oils until they are in a semi-solid state (like lard or butter). This makes them convenient from a manufacturing standpoint, but dangerous from a human one. They were so clearly linked to heart and metabolic risks that a major study of them was halted before completion so the researchers could warn the public. Labels began to require notification of TFA percentages in 2006.

Well, what’s happened in recent years? Researchers at Harvard School of Public Health, working with the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI), have examined commonly available manufactured foods, comparing 270 products in 2007 and again in 2011. They found mixed results. Good news: some manufacturers have reformulated two thirds of their products to reduce (or even eliminate) TFAs. Hmm, seems to me that this is another example of “the sky did not fall” when regulations based on good science are enforced. Bad news: some manufacturers have not, and even those who began going the right direction have slowed their efforts. Result: TFAs can still be found in hundreds of products.

“Artificial trans fat wreaks havoc on Americans’ metabolism and blood chemistry, something the FDA has known for 15 years,” said CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson. “This study clearly indicates that some food companies simply can’t be relied upon to get rid of trans fat on their own. The FDA could solve this problem once and for all, and save thousands of lives, with the stroke of a pen.”

How to protect yourself? You can’t be expected to read this whole study, even though it lists all 270 products the authors studied. The table of results is pretty complicated. What you can do: Read labels! Anything with trans fat should be avoided completely. Unfortunately, “Products that contain less than half a gram of trans fat per serving may list zero grams on Nutrition Facts labels,” said one of the study’s co-authors Dr. Fadar Otite. Let me add that the phrase “partially hydrogenated vegetable oil” is a euphemism for TFAs and any product containing it should be avoided as well. Here’s one more reason to choose organic whenever possible.

Roundup (the herbicide) is even worse than you think

In Toxins and Pesticides,

Posted on May 8, 2013
Author: Linda,
Comments: Comments Off on Roundup (the herbicide) is even worse than you think

What’s the opposite of panacea? (That word means a wonderful cure for everything, usually mythical). Panapathea? Could a single substance actually cause many diseases? According to a scary new scientific report, the herbicide Roundup (the most commonly used herbicide in the world) is plausibly linked to the following: inflammatory bowel disease, obesity, depression, ADHD, autism, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, ALS, multiple sclerosis, cancer, cachexia [general poor health], infertility, and developmental malformations.” (pages 1444-1445 of the report).

The authors of this report, which you can find in a pdf listed here www.mdpi.com/1099-4300/15/4/1416?utm_medium=referral&utm_source=pulsenews explain exactly how the key ingredient in R

oundup, glyphosate, causes all these horrible chronic illnesses.

The authors conclude: “It is imperative for more independent research to take place to validate the ideas presented here, and to take immediate action, if they are verified, to drastically curtail the use of glyphosate in agriculture.” In other words: “If we’re right, we must all fight back against Roundup.” They emphasize “independent” research because the biotech companies tightly control what outside scientists are allowed to study, and control what their in-house scientists are permitted to publish.

Take-home message: Pesticide corporations are not on our side. You and I can start protecting ourselves right now, by purchasing as much organic food as we can, not using Roundup in our gardens, and demanding that schools do the same.

You can read a good journalistic summary of the article here www.reuters.com/article/2013/04/25/roundup-health-study-idUSL2N0DC22F20130425

A great restaurant in San Jose

In Food to Try, GMO's, Good News, Recommended Company,

Posted on April 29, 2013
Author: Linda,
Comments: Comments Off on A great restaurant in San Jose

On Earth Day last week, some friends and I dined at The Vegetarian House, which is both vegan, non-GMO, and organic. Wait – don’t go yet! Vegan is delicious, and I just found out (again) how delicious!

As you may know, a vegetarian does not eat (dare we say, eschews) meat, fish, poultry – anything that was once a living animal. He or she may eat dairy and eggs. A vegan doesn’t eat these either. Just as carnivores wonder how one can live without meat and dairy, I used to wonder how one lived without cheese. But creative vegans have dreamed up incredibly delightful recipes and menus.

The six of us chose a variety of dishes and shared, so I got to sample a range of The Vegetarian House’s goodies. I’ll just list a few: Won ton soup (with shiitake mushrooms, bok choy, tofu, cilantro, and more), sweet and sour (pineapple, bell peppers, soy nuggets), clay pot (bean cakes wrapped in seaweed, with gravy and pepper), asparagus (with soy slices, bell pepper, mushrooms), curry masala (jicama, broccoli, shiitake, cauliflower, and more with coconut milk curry sauce) — well, you get the idea. Culinary influences are from China, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Middle East, Europe and the Americas

What other earth-friendly practices do they have? Solar panels on the roof, energy-efficient lighting and appliances, local sourcing of ingredients whenever possible.

We didn’t try the desserts but they look tempting (organic tiramisu, carrot cake, banana fritters, etc.). And even raw desserts – strawberry cheesecake, carob mousse pie, and more. Looks as if I’ll just have to go back there and try them all!

520 E. Santa Clara St., San Jose 95112 (408) 292 3798

info@vegetarianhouse.us