September 13th, 2012

By now you have heard about the Stanford University study which found that organically grown fruits and vegetables are not significantly better, in terms of your health, than conventionally grown produce.

I cringed when I first heard these findings blurbed on the radio. I didn’t want it to be true, and I also feared that the conclusion is premature.

I wasn’t the only one cringing.

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September 29th, 2011

What if you poured herbicides on the weeds, pesticides on the bugs and doused the earth with synthetic fertilizers so you could grow grains and fruits and vegetables?
You’d have a highly productive farm with super high yields. Right?

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May 9th, 2011

Prince Charles might seem like an unlikely champion for organic farming. But I’ll embrace reason wherever I find it.
During a recent talk at Georgetown University, the prince extolled the virtues of organic farming over conventional farming, because it doesn’t destroy the soil with chemicals. He pointed out that our current methods of blasting crops with chemicals are endangering our ability to continue to even grow crops; which doesn’t make sense ecologically or economically.
Here’s his quote from the Des Moines Register: “Capitalism ultimately depends on capital but our capital ultimately depends on the health of nature’s capital,” the prince said. “Whether we like it or not the two are inseparable.”

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January 3rd, 2011

My first thought upon hearing on New Year’s Day that Plano-based Frito Lay was going to make half of its inventory “all natural” for 2011, was relief. Maybe this would be a good omen for the new year.

Like most moms with school-aged kids, I’m often in the hunt for a chip that uses a “good” oil, not too much salt and few, if any, artificial ingredients. Much as I like to send fruit, crackers and veggies for side dishes, I confess to including chips every so often in school lunches. Chips provide crunch and when I ask the benchmark question I apply to all school lunch components — would I eat it? — the answer is “yes”.

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October 13th, 2010

If you value your drinking water, food, local economy, farmers, children, adults, animals and the health of the planet, you’ll want to take three minutes to see a cool new video that debuted at the annual Farm Aid event held in Milwaukee last week.
Underwritten by Anvil Sportswear, the biggest buyer of American-grown organic cotton in the U.S., this fun short film enumerates why it’s important to buy organic. In fact, it lists many, many reasons to go organic. And there are many.

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May 21st, 2010

Quinoa salad, a gluten-free dish (Photo: Mambo Sprouts)

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May 14th, 2010

Chicago-area residents will get to survey the latest green goods, listen to eco-thought leaders and snack on Fair Trade goodies at the Chicago Green Festival planned for Navy Pier on May 22-23.

The two-day event will feature more than 350 local and national green businesses, and 150 speakers at panel discussions and how-to workshops. It will include a Fair Trade, Green Home and Organic Food and Gardening pavilions as well as eco-kids activities and green refreshments such as organic beer, wine and food.

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March 22nd, 2010

From Green Right Now Reports

Who knew that the process of harvesting and packing bananas was a water-intensive process?

Apparently, a lot of water is used to hold the fruit until it is selected for packing. But Dole Food Company, Inc., the world’s largest producer and marketer of fresh fruit and vegetables, and the biggest producer of organic bananas, has announced a pilot project in Costa Rica that reduces water use by more than 80 percent and cuts energy use in half.

The company’s Standard Fruit de Costa Rica division developed a completely new method of harvesting and selecting banana that brought these tasks closer to the field. The new chain of operations cut out holding time inbetween the picking and packing of the bananas, reducing the water and energy requirements of the process, according to Dole, which is based in Westlake Village, Calif.

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January 14th, 2010

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

Everyone knows you can’t shop your way to green. A true greenie is always looking for ways to reduce and reuse. That line of thinking generally doesn’t propel you to the mall, at least not often.

BUT…you knew there was a but… eco-conscious consumers still have needs. Their motivations are just different. They look to buy lower impact, organic products from like-minded companies and retailers. They want fairly produced goods to create a less-toxic home environment, with healthful food, that supports sustainable practices.

Over the past two years, we’ve noticed that the market is bringing us more and more small, green stores that aim to be a nexus for this movement. Take it back. Some are large, like the home supply Green Depot in New York City. They sell lotsa stuff that can really help you dig in to cut your energy bills and remodel greenly.

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November 2nd, 2009

By Barbara Kessler
Green Right Now

If you’ve been taking your home green, you know how ideas can feed off each other. Someone gets picky about paper recycling; someone else becomes the food waste arbiter; pretty soon everyone has their eco-role and the household’s carbon footprint is shrinking.

Kimpton Hotels and Restaurants realized early on that green grows like that. The hospitality chain, with roots in San Francisco, has a history of putting eco-friendly ideas in place. Even before green hotel or green restaurant designations were developed, Kimpton was experimenting with eco-friendly practices at its San Francisco properties, such as the Hotel Triton, where motion sensors turn off lights and 60 percent of the waste gets recycled.

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July 29th, 2009

By Ashley Phillips
Green Right Now

The Denim Diet: 16 Simple Habits to Get Into Your Dream Pair of Jeans by Kami Gray claims to be a “no-nonsense guide to a smaller you and a healthier planet”. While I would not go far to say that it is a guide to a healthier planet, it does provide a glimpse into an environmental approach to dieting.

This book would appeal to people who are unfamiliar with the benefits to eating organically, a great source for the newly green.

Gray explains what it takes to be certified as organic by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA). It is also notes that just because food is labeled as “all natural” or “100% natural” does not necessarily mean that it is, because the term “natural” is not yet regulated by the Federal Drug Administration. Anything can be labeled as natural. Go beyond the label to look at the actual ingredients, Gray advises.

Since most people avoid organic food because of the cost, she also provides some money-saving tricks, like buying fruits in season and freezing them and buying store-brand organic foods, which are less expensive.

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May 22nd, 2009

From Green Right Now Reports:

As toxicologists see it, our chemical world is neither as dangerous as portrayed by the mainstream media and environmental groups, nor as safe as the American Chemistry Council and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA) would have us believe.

That’s according to a survey of 937 members of the Society of Toxicology in early 2009. The survey, released Thursday, was administered by Harris Interactive and conducted by the nonprofit Statistical Assessment Service (STATS) and Center for Health and Risk Communication at George Mason University.

“This survey suggests that the public doesn’t get a full and balanced picture of chemical risk,” said Dr. Robert Lichter, the survey director.

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