Shopping with Purpose

Every industry has companies that are environmentally and socially responsible, and others that aren't. Who has time to research all of them, though? I try to keep my eye out for reports of abuses by corporations or good things that they're doing, but it's so hard to keep track! Imagine my excitement when a friend sent me a link to Better World Shopper. They even have a handy book!

Better World Shopper has done the research for me in a large number of industries, and has nice, easy-to-understand lists for each. While I wish there was a drill-down option that would offer an explanation of individual companies and rankings, the list is better than nothing! I like hat, at a glance, I can discover, for example, that our Toyota has a better impact on the world than our Volvo, that my choice to patronize the local BP station isn't so bad, and the pint of Ben & Jerry's on my birthday was a pretty good choice.

The listing of good and bad companies is useful, but maybe even moreso, is the list of the categories where change for the better is most imperative. Choosing a socially-responsible bank, for example, isn't something I ever thought about.

Where do you prioritize your socially- and environmentally-conscious shopping? Are lists like this helpful?

Why Climate Change Matters

Climate change is a justice issue.

Does that seem far-fetched? Should "social justice" be confined to feeding the poor and housing the homeless? Or is it bigger than that? On this Blog Action Day focusing on climate change, it's something worth considering. Here's a list of a few climate change issues, and why, in my eyes, they're social justice issues too:

• Mountaintop removal: Just a few states away, my neighbors are dealing with poor air quality and contaminated drinking water, not to mention the destruction of their local treasures. When I think about using more electricity in my home, this comes to mind- my actions are affecting the lives of my neighbors. Our neighbors are suffering, and this matters.

• Island nations: I used to live on an island in the middle of an ocean, so I get it when leaders from these nations plead with the bigger nations to notice their plight. If the globe warms up just a little, if the ice starts to melt... these people lose their homes, their country. It's not fair that, thanks to those in large countries who live as they please, the smallest countries will suffer. Our neighbors are losing their homes, and this matters.

• World hunger: As the climate changes, those that live in already-dry areas will find it even harder to grow food. As the world's temperature rises, growing seasons will change, and precipitation will shift. Areas that are barely able to grow anything right now may become completely barren. All the while, those of us with plenty insist on trucking our food from thousands of miles away- contributing even more to the problem. Our neighbors are going hungry, and this matters.

• Water shortages: This is related to the shift in weather and growing seasons- droughts, storms and floods will intensify if nothing is done. Global warming will continue to cause our neighbors in the third world to go without clean drinking water. Our neighbors are thirsty, and this matters.

Climate change isn't something I choose to ignore, because I see climate change issues directly relating to the plight of my neighbor- and loving my neighbor matters.

Meeting our food

Lately, a lot of lip service has been paid to "knowing where our food comes from". Some of this trend stems from the food recalls on green beans, spinach, peppers, tomatoes, peanut butter, and seemingly everything in between. In theory, if we know where our food comes from- whether it's down the street or across the country- we're safer.

While that point is arguable, I think it is important to know where our food comes from for a different reason. The closer I am acquainted with my food, the more I will appreciate it. The closer I am acquainted with my food, the higher the chance I'm eating food from whole ingredients rather than processed ones. I'm more acquainted, for example, with the Alfredo sauce I'm going to make tonight for dinner from scratch than the powdered mix that comes in the Hamburger Helper box. Although many health-conscious people would be appalled at the butter and cream on my pasta, I'm more comfortable it because I know what's in it: butter, cream, and Parmesan. That's it. What's in Hamburger Helper? No idea. Are there chemicals, preservatives, and unpronounceable additives for color and flavor that I'd rather not ingest? Without a doubt. The further I am removed from my food, the less I know about it, and the higher the probability that it contains something undesirable.

The most closely I can become acquainted with my food is by growing it myself. In this way, I can not only know where it comes from, I can control what goes into it- and can make sure it is pesticide- and herbicide-free. In my mind, gardening organically in my backyard is WAY more enjoyable and less expensive than looking for those same products marked Organic in the grocery store.

The next best thing to getting growing my own is actually knowing who did grow my food. By shopping at farmers markets or sharing produce with friends, I can meet the grower and be assured the food is safe. This weekend, I had a whole new experience with "getting acquainted" with my food- I looked my food in the eye!

Meet the Chickens:


These are meat chickens, just a month and a half old- still "peep"ing instead of clucking. They've had a very happy month-and-a-half though- starting in a warm safe house, then getting the chance to scratch at the ground and eat grass and bugs and just be chicken-y in general. They look pretty happy, no?

The egg chickens just a little ways away are the same age:

Note the serious size difference. There you have it- selective breeding at work! The full-grown egg-laying ladies are a year old and gorgeous, wandering around on their own because they know how to find their way back to the coop at night.


Back to those meat chickens.

I was there on Saturday, "Harvesting Day." I started out on babysitting duty, and ended up on "tear the guts out of the chickens" duty. Awesome, huh?

I'll spare the gory details, but do want to highlight this cool invention, the Chicken Plucker:

Our friend's dad built the contraption off of plans he found on a blog (can't find the link right now.) The drum with the rubber fingers spins around and beats the dead chicken until most all the feathers come off. By all of the guys' accounts who did the chicken processing last year, plucking by hand was the absolute worst part. This device made the whole process go MUCH quicker. Unfortunately, my part of the assembly line was still a very manual, very slimy process.

So, I came face-to-face with my food. Will I think differently about it now? I think I'm just glad to know that the chickens sacrificed for our meals were very happy, very healthy chickens that, as Joe Salatin would say, "only had one bad day" in their short life. I think more when I eat meat, knowing it had to come from somewhere. As my friend said, "Every carnivore should experience this once." McNuggets are too far removed from Real Food for me to remember where they start.

Becoming acquainted with our food matters.

Get Outside!

Around here, yesterday and today have been beautiful! Spring is totally my favorite season. While the weather is still too unpredictable to get a camping trip scheduled in Indiana, you can enjoy the state parks for free next Sunday!

Free Gate Admission on Sunday May 3 

Entrance gate fees at all state park and reservoir properties will be waived on Sunday, May 3, a special way to say “welcome back” to spring and summer. Visit any such property for a day hike or bike ride, stop by a state park inn for lunch, take in a program with the interpretive naturalist (where available) or just go for scenic drive. While there, be sure to buy your annual pass, pool pass or lake permit. All other fees and charges for camping, lodging, shelters and supplies will be in effect May 3. About 66 percent of our operating budget is provided through gate, camping and program fees, and other revenue but this is a small welcome-back gift to get you in the spirit of the season and encourage you to return to some of the state's treasures again and again. 

Maybe I'll take my dog for his first State Park visit!

I got this tip in an Indiana DNR email but can't find it on their site....

Am I Crazy?

Don't answer that. Well, at least not right away.

Yesterday, during lunch with my coworkers in the breakroom, the TV was tuned to a new channel- Planet Green. The show that was playing was poorly named, called Stuff Happens. I grew up with Bill Nye being the popular TV Science Guru, so to see him doing something similar was great. (To be honest, I preferred grandfatherly Mr Wizard to the more-exciting Bill Nye, but Mr Wizard was on at 6am on Nickelodeon, so Bill Nye was more accessible to the masses)

Anyway, the show was about the environmental impact of just normal stuff- food, clothes, transportation, etc. I was loving it. Someone on TV was saying what I have been trying to- it's worth thinking about where our stuff comes from! He even used the phrase "Vote with your wallet"! I was so excited about the premise!

My coworkers, however, weren't as excited. While it's a pretty common lunchtime activity to make fun of whatever is on TV, they were particularly rough on this show. "This show is all about killing our fun!" "Yeah right, like everyone could eat locally" "Well, maybe this could happen if everyone had their own plot of arable land" "Why should we care where our eggs come from?" "Is this sponsored by PETA?"

The whole time, I wanted to argue back, explain that we could eat locally and sustainably if we wanted to- and it doesn't take that much land. It does matter where our eggs come from. If we thought about this stuff, we'd be healthier and so would our environment. I didn't- I kept my mouth shut and listened to their objections.

One segment of the show was about cashmere goats- how their wool is so sought after that the mountains of China are being over-grazed to keep up with demand, turning the area into a desert with awful dust storms. The suggested substitution is the more sustainable alpaca wool. In my eyes, this was great information! Now I can make an informed choice about which really-nice sweater to choose, if it's something I'm looking to buy. To me, it's valid to think about my purchasing choices, taking the full impact of the product I'm supporting into account. I didn't realize that this was a crazy, out-there notion. Based on the reaction of my coworkers to the premise of this show, it is.

Do you think I'm crazy for caring? How much do you care about your purchases' impact?

Why garden?

It's good for you

"Eat your veggies" isn't just what frustrated parents say to their stubborn kids at the dinnertable- it's good advice. Very few Americans get the proper serving of fruits and vegetables, and we have the obesity epidemic to show for it. Eating well will also lower health costs in the long run, so its the frugal thing to do!

It's good for the earth

Eating locally, seasonally, and organically is good for the earth, period. Ten percent of the nation's energy resources goes towards the food industry- whether it's the petroleum-based fertilizers spread in the field, the transporting and refrigeration of produce, or the energy-intense processing of processed foods. When we eat industrial food, it's full of oil.

Eating what is available in your area when it is available- and growing that food in your backyard- cuts out practically all of the energy consumption. Nothing has to be trucked anywhere, nothing is overprocessed, and you're getting fruits and vegetables that are fresher than anything you'll find in the grocery store.

It's good for the poor

This is one we don't think about. Many grocery stores have left low-income neighborhoods, leaving just gas stations and convenience stores to sell food to local residents who rely on public transportation. These smaller stores have convenience foods, but no fresh fruits or vegetables. Also, when a person has a limited amount of money to spend on food, they must find the cheapest way to get calories. A New York Times article addressed this in a 2007 article:

"Calorie for calorie, junk foods not only cost less than fruits and vegetables, but junk food prices also are less likely to rise as a result of inflation...“If you have $3 to feed yourself, your choices gravitate toward foods which give you the most calories per dollar. Not only are the empty calories cheaper, but the healthy foods are becoming more and more expensive. Vegetables and fruits are rapidly becoming luxury goods."

Doesn't it seems contradictory to think that people that are the most food-insecure also have a high rate of obesity? The fact that our food system is set up to make high-calorie junk food cheap explains this dichotomy. If we garden, grow more than we could eat, and give it to food pantries or groups in low-income areas, the poor will be fed. Because they will be eating healthier, their health costs will go down, perhaps breaking their cycle of poverty. Urban gardens by inner-city groups are also a cool response to this situation.

We can garden for ourselves, for the earth, and for social justice. Gardening matters.

Thursday Question: Recycling

Over at Just Wallpaper, Curtis asks:
Do you recycle? If so, why do you recycle and what specifically do you recycle? (I’m a recycling newbie)
If not, how come?

I have a huge confession: I don't recycle at home.

I recycle at work. I recycle at church. I compost. I don't waste food. We produce very little trash, to the point we only put our big trash can out by the road once every three or four weeks- we've even considered doing away with trash service altogether because of this.

But recycling? Because the amount of trash we produce is so low, number of recyclables would be even lower, so what's the point? Though, now that I think about it- I wonder how much of what we throw away is recyclable, and if we would have any trash at all if I actually made the effort to separate things out...?

Honestly, I'm not even sure if there's a recycling service that picks up by our house, since we're not in a subdivision. If I could motivate myself, I'd collect recyclables and take them to a city recycling center, which, from my understanding, is free to drop off. I should research what that entails. If I started collecting recyclables and discovered we had next-to-no trash, recycling may give us the opportunity to get rid of the trash service. At under $300 a year, it's not a lot, but it's something!

I've also heard of sharing recycling bins with your neighbor, if they're friendly and cooperative. They (or you) leave your recycling bin at the curb, and both households fill it and contribute to the cost of the pick up. Anyone remember the days when recycling centers PAID people to bring in cans?

I'll consider what it would take to start recycling at home and get back to you on my progress!